Trademark Owners Beware: new domain extensions (gTLDs) pose new infringement risks.

Domain Name Trademark Infringement Alert: 

As internet lawyers, we understand how on-line / internet infringement affects trademark right owners across the world wide web. Each time a new domain extension is launched, new opportunities for trademark domain infringement arise. As .xxx comes closer to launch, you need to understand how to protect your trade mark in the pornography space.

President & CEO of Levi Strauss & Co., John Anderson, Discusses Brand Name Protection

Knowing how to select and register a trademark is tough.  Knowing how to turn your trademark in valuable intellectual property is tougher still.  While a trademark attorney can help you legally protect your mark, your creative and business team has even harder work.  In this Trademark Law Radio interview, John Anderson, President and CEO of Levi Strauss & Co.talks about how the Levi trademarks have evolved and become some of the most powerful brands in the world.
Highlights:

• It’s no easy business maintaining global brands and trademarks, and it’s even more difficult to keep a brand relevant while staying loyal to its roots.  Brands live and die based on their relevance to what’s happening now with the culture, competitors, and consumers, and staying relevant is hard, constant work.
• We view our icons, not just as a form of marketing, but as a critical piece of brand and trademark protection.
• Brand protection is not a onetime deal and involves more than just registering trademarks.  To protect a brand, you’ve got to constantly tend to it and, when necessary, to update it.  In fact, the red tab helped distinguish our products for a few decades, until competitors began to incorporate the same idea into their products.
• For a brand to be globally relevant, it must always be innovative.  This is the double-edged work that is necessary in our industry.  A brand must be both timeless, yet cutting edge, novel but classic.
• In a world like this, brand matters more than ever, but the competition to keep brands and trademarks defended, and relevant, is one of the greatest business challenges managers face.

 

Play: INTA San Francisco Keynote Address: John Anderson, President & CEO of Levi Strauss & Co.
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With: John Anderson

Sponsored by: Traverse Trademark Law

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Brandjacking Costs Hotels over $2 Billion a Year

Update: Keyword search engine bidding cost hotels $ billions

According to a recent report on brandjacking done by MarkMonitor ®,  the top online hotel brands lose over $2 billion a year as a result of brandjacking.  The losses stem from competitors bidding on their company brand name in keyword search advertising programs such as Google’s Adwords.

The study identified over 2,100 instances of cybersquatting on the five brand names, where the registrant of the domain name was not the registered trademark owner of the brands.  These cybersquatted domains generate traffic of 57 million page visits per year. 

Should I Sue for Trademark Infringement? | Trademark Law Firm Tips

Clients often call with trademark infringement issues.  A trademark attorney can help you understand whether or not there is a likelihood of confusion between a third party use and your trademark.  Consumer confusion is, of course, the key to proving trademark infringement.  In this Trademark Law Radio Show, a trademark attorney discusses:

• So, you've determined that someone is infringing your trademark.  Now, you need to know whether or not to send a trademark threat letter or sue for trademark infringement.
• A trademark infringement lawsuit can be a complicated and expensive endeavor.  An experienced trademark lawyer can help you understand whether filing a lawsuit will provide a positive return on investment or is otherwise critical to your trademark protection program.  

I’m an experienced trademark attorney, and I’m going to try and help you understand some basics about trademark law.

Play: Should I Sue for Trademark Infringement?
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With: Enrico Schaefer

Sponsored by: Traverse Trademark Law

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Trademark infringement is becoming more common as more people turn to the Internet to search, shop and do business online.  More companies are displaying their goods and services on web pages.  Web site operators are displaying other people’s goods and services on their web pages.  More and more people go to the Internet every day for a variety of commercial activities. 

There are hundreds of millions of pages loaded each day across the Internet.  All of that activity has attracted “Black Hats" who target famous brands and trademarks in order to divert traffic from you and profit off your mark and the good will with your customers.

Trademark a Name: Apple’s Brand is now worth Half of Its Market Capitalization

Clients often wonder why it is so important to register a brand as a trademark.  The answer is return on investment.  A trademark, properly registered and protected, can provide tremendous worth to your company.  If someone down the line seeks to value your company, they will value your trademarks as well. 

In the case of Apple, it is now estimated that the Apple brand itself is worth $153 billion, almost half of Apple’s market capitalization.  That’s right.  Half of the value of Apple is bound up in its trademarks.  Not only do they register their names and brands as marks, but they protect those brands and names from third party infringement as well. 

If you want to download the full report of the top 100 most valuable global brands (estimate value of $2 Trillion), you can check out the brandz.com website.