Protection of trademarks

Trademarks and trade names are an important part of the brand. Do you market your products or services under your own trademarks? How detrimental is it for your brand if others use similar trademarks?

The owner of a registered trademark has the right to prevent others from using similar marks. In this way, others are not able to take advantage of the mark’s reputation and the investments made in marketing. The owner of a registered trademark is also better protected from the infringement claims of others than the owner of an unregistered trademark.

In designing a new trademark, it is crucial to investigate whether the trademark can be freely used. By searches, one can avoid making investments in trademarks that cannot be used without violating the rights of others.

By registration, the ownership of the trademark can be ensured; without registration, the owner of the mark often remains open to interpretations. By registering the trademark, it is also possible to prevent distributors or agents from registering the mark under their own name. Such trademark registrations by distributors are very common, and they may lead to difficult disagreements in case you wish to switch the distributor.

Home pages and domains constitute an essential element of marketing. When designing new products and brands, it is advisable to check the availability of the domains of interest and take the necessary registration action.

In regard to the protection of trademarks, our services include for instance:

  • creation of international protection strategies,
  • availability and protectability searches of trademarks,
  • the registration of trademarks in Finland, in the EU and in non-EU countries,
  • worldwide registration of domains,
  • worldwide watches,
  • anti-counterfeiting actions (e.g. in collaboration with the customs),
  • oppositions against similar trademark applications,
  • solving trademark and domain disagreements through agreement negotiations,
  • legal proceedings, and
  • maintenance and renewal services of trademark registrations.