Protection of your trademark after registration

Once your trademark is registered it is important to be aware of some of the issues that could place your trademark in risk of revocation.

Non-use

Upon registering your mark, it is important to know that if your mark is not used for a period of five years upon registration or subsequently after that, it has not been used for a continuous period of five years, it can be struck off the register if there are no proper explanations for the non-use of the trademark.

Generic

Another risk that a trademark proprietor must be aware of their trademark becoming generic. Once a trademark becomes a generic term this will lead to the proprietor losing their protection.

An example of a generic trademark is ‘Post-it Note’ that became a generic term amongst the public. As a result of this, Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, the trademark owners of Post-it Note lost their trademark protection.

Ways to potentially protect your trademark from being generic:

• Use trademark symbols “®”, however it should be noted that you should only use this if your mark is registered, otherwise using this symbol where your mark is not registered could give rise to a criminal offence (s95 TMA 1994),
• Take action against the misuse of your trademark by others,
• Ensure that your mark is distinctive.

Misleading trademarks

Another risk is your trademark being misleading to the public due to your use, this could result to your trademark being revoked. Popular examples of this is where a trademark deceives the public as to the nature, quality, or origin of the good.

If you would like to discuss protection of your brand, please get in touch with the Trademarkroom team today.