National Trademark Protection Lawyer

They are the names, logos, and slogans that identify your company and separate you from your competition. They symbolize your brand, your products, and your services. Not only do your customers rely on them to forge their own brand loyalty, but they also use them to refer others to your company. They are your trademarks, and nobody knows how to protect them, defend them, and enforce them better than the national trademark protection lawyers at The Kinder Law Group.

Why Do I Need an Orange County Trademark Attorney?

Although you can file your trademark application without an attorney, we often say that trademark applications are deceptively simple. The reality is that the process is far more complex than most people realize, and even a slight error can result in significant delays in processing your trademark application. It is also possible that a small error or omission in your application paperwork could result in incomplete protection for your trademark, or it may be registered in a way that does not suit your intended purposes.

Working with an experienced Orange County trademark lawyer is the best way to ensure a smooth approval process for your trademark application. Additionally, your attorney can help you determine the specific details that suit your trademark best, providing you with the most robust legal protection that allows you to continue using your trademark with confidence.

Vital Steps for Registering and Protecting Your Trademark

Filing your paperwork and securing legal ownership over your trademark is just one aspect of what we do. Your Orange County trademark lawyer at The Kinder Law Group will also ensure your trademark registration includes the legal protection you need to safeguard your trademark from exploitation and misuse.

The first step in securing your trademark is conducting a thorough to ensure the trademark you wish to secure is available for use. It is common for hopeful trademark owners to discover that another party has already registered the trademark they want to register. Your Orange County trademark attorney can help you adjust your trademark application as needed if a trademark search uncovers any evidence that another party has already registered your trademark.

Once we help you determine the best method for registering your trademark, our team will work closely with you to register it in the territories you intend to use it. For example, if you only intend to use your trademark domestically, this is very different from registering a trademark for international use. Whatever your case entails, we will help you determine the best approach to ensuring total legal protection for your trademark.

Avoid Common Trademark Filing Mistakes

When hopeful trademark owners do not hire legal representation to guide them through the registration process, they run the risk of making some common mistakes that can diminish their intellectual property rights, such as:

• Submitting the wrong type of trademark specimen. Printing out your logo and submitting it with your application is not a valid trademark specimen. You must submit a sample that shows the USPTO how you use your trademark. The Kinder Law Group can help you determine what type of specimen you need to submit to ensure it provides the protection you need.
• Choosing the wrong trademark filing basis. Do you intend to file your trademark for “use in commerce” or “intent to use in commerce?” Do you know the difference? Many hopeful trademark owners encounter issues with their filing basis because they do not know the difference.
• Misidentifying trademark goods and services. When you register your trademark, you need to identify the goods and services you intend to protect and choose the correct classification for those goods and services to keep the trademark protected.

These are just a few examples of the common errors trademark owners make when they do not have legal counsel as they navigate the trademark registration process.

Monitoring Your Trademark

As a trademark owner, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) requires that you monitor your trademark to ensure no one infringes on your trademark rights. If you encounter any type of trademark infringement, or if you are accused of infringing on another trademark holder’s property rights, we can provide the legal counsel you need to navigate these situations with confidence.

You are also required to use your trademark in specific ways to maintain legal protection and ownership over the trademark, typically in the manner you specified that you intended to use it when you filed your trademark registration paperwork. Our team can provide legal guidance for determining the best legal uses of your trademark, all while monitoring activity surrounding your trademark to detect any potential infringement of your intellectual property rights.

Another responsibility you will face as a trademark owner is performing regular maintenance filings with the USPTO. Your initial trademark registration only lasts so long. If you do not complete the required filings, the USPTO will consider the trademark abandoned and no longer protected by applicable trademark laws. This could allow another party to assume ownership over your trademark. Your Orange County trademark attorney will help you determine the maintenance filing schedule you face and assist you in completing and submitting all required documentation.

The Importance of Enforcing a Trademark

Trademark infringement occurs when another party uses your trademark in connection with goods or services without authorization, and the misuse causes confusion about the party’s goods or services. This trademark may be registered or not.

A trademark is an important aspect of your business and your brand, building positive associations with consumers and clients. When trademarks or service marks are misused and infringed upon by other parties, it can affect your business’s reputation and goodwill with your customers and the public. It can dilute your trademark by impacting your reputation or by overusing it and weakening the strength of your brand.

Enforcing your trademark is crucial to protecting your brand and financial interest in your business.

What Legal Remedies Do I Have for Trademark Infringement?

If your trademark has been infringed upon, you have options to address this. This may include:

1. Cease and Desist Letters
   The first step in addressing trademark litigation is typically a cease and desist letter. This letter is sent to the party that is infringing on your trademark rights and demands that they cease the use of the trademark. Multiple of these letters may be sent. When a party engaging in infringement is made aware of the trademark holder’s intent to assert their rights, it frequently results in the end of infringement. It may also lead to negotiations between parties.
2. Opposition Proceedings
   A notice of opposition is filed when you believe that another party should not have their trademark application registered. Filing this proceeding is done with the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB). A petition to cancel the trademark application can also be filed this way. This process is similar to a civil claim.
3. Federal Litigation
   If the cease and desist letter fails to end the infringement, then you are able to file a federal claim to end trademark infringement. You can only file this claim in federal court if your trademark is already registered with the USPTO. You can file with the state court if the trademark is not registered and the infringement is present in the same state in which you are using the trademark.

When you file a claim in federal court, you must prove that the trademark infringement can confuse your customers, clients, and the public and has caused harm to your business. If your case is successful, the court may award an injunction or even order monetary compensation.

Filing Trademark Infringement Cases in Orange County

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has nationwide jurisdiction over numerous areas, including trademarks. The closest of these to Orange County, close to Los Angeles and Riverside, is the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena, California. This is a U.S. court located at:

Richard H. Chambers Court of Appeals Building

125 South Grand Avenue

Pasadena, CA 91105-1621

It is a little over 46 miles from Riverside, nearly 35 miles from Orange County, and a little under eight miles from Los Angeles.

Real-World Trademark Litigation: 3M v. 3N

The multinational company 3M filed a claim against Changzhou Huawei Advanced Material Company LTD for its use of the name “3N” on its products. 3M claimed that this design choice was made to profit from the 3M brand’s reputation and was intentionally confusing.

The final verdict of the Supreme People’s Court of P.R. China was that the use of “3N” was an infringement on the rights of 3M’s well-known trademark. This decision was reached despite the difference in products made by 3M and Changzhou Huawei Advanced Material Co LTD. The infringing company had to pay damages to 3M.

Benefits of Working With a Trademark Protection Attorney

Even if you are highly confident in your ability to register and protect your trademark, The Kinder Law Group can provide several distinct advantages to make management of your trademark easier:

• If you plan to register an entirely new and unique trademark, our team will evaluate your current materials and provide comprehensive guidance to help you establish a strong mark that will help you improve brand visibility.
• At the earliest stage of trademark registration, we can conduct an extensive trademark search to ensure that no one else has registered your intended trademark outside of the USPTO, such as a common law or state-level trademark that does not appear in a USPTO Trademark Electronic Search System query.
• Once you have registered your trademark, we will help you determine the best possible uses for your mark to ensure you maintain solid legal protection against infringement.
• Some trademarks are easier to register than others. Your Orange County trademark lawyers at The Kinder Law Group will identify any advantages or potential obstacles you are likely to face due to the nature of your trademark.
• If any issues arise during the registration process for your trademark, our team can communicate with the USPTO examining attorney assigned to your case and help you work through the situation as quickly as possible.
• By hiring an Orange County trademark attorney to assist you with your trademark registration, you will have a legal team already familiar with your trademark if you encounter any infringement in the future.

Why Choose The Kinder Law Group?

The Kinder Law Group understands that strong brand recognition helps customers distinguish your products and services from others and is crucial to building customer loyalty and a strong referral base. The Kinder Law Group will help you register and protect your company’s brand name and the names of your products and services. In the early stages, our attorneys conduct clearance searches to determine if that perfect name is available for you to use. If you are already using the ideal name, our professionals develop strategies that allow your company to safely expand the promotion of your products and services. In this worldwide economy, The Kinder Law Group can also help you enhance the value of your business by registering your company’s marks both domestically and around the world. Finally, if your company needs to enforce its rights against an infringer or defend itself against allegations of infringement, you can rely on our experienced and aggressive litigators.

Whether your company is launching next week or going public next month, our professionals strive to develop a focused and cost-effective plan to protect your brand names and maximize the legal advantages available to your business. Call us today for a consultation at (949) 216-3070 or send us an email.

We look forward to working with you.