Trademark matters can be overwhelming for startups. According to a recent EU study, only a small minority, about 9%, of SMEs in the EU have protected any intellectual property despite it dramatically improving their performance. You can read more about that here.
Here’s a simple list to help you get on the right path.
1. Basics
☐ Make sure your main brand is eligible for legal protection
☐ Identify all commercial identifiers that could be protected as trademarks
☐ Create a logo to give visual expression to your brand
☐ Make sure that nobody has registered or is using a similar name/logo
2. Protecting your trademark
☐ Decide what you want to achieve with trademark registrations
☐ Decide your budget
☐ Check for government grants and innovation programs to help you with costs
☐ Choose the marks that need legal protection
☐ Identify the goods and services that your trademarks should cover
☐ Evaluate whether legal help is needed to help you protect your trademark
☐ Identify in which countries you need trademark protection
☐ Submit your first application in your home country
☐ Submit foreign applications within 6 months of the first application
☐ Use WIPO’s Madrid System for international registrations whenever possible
3. Maintaining the trademark rights
☐ Use your trademark correctly
☐ Keep files of your cases and deadlines
☐ Save evidence of use of your trademarks periodically
☐ Monitor trademark databases to see conflicting applications
☐ Monitor the internet to find out possible infringements
☐ Deal with infringements
☐ Make sure others don’t use your trademark descriptively
☐ Renew your trademark registrations
☐ Re-evaluate and review the scope of your trademark rights and portfolio
☐ Rinse and repeat – start again from step 1
Going through these steps will get you ahead of most of your competitors. For another easy guide, check our Trademark Canvas.
