A trademark is a unique component and aspect in business and organisations that drive innovation while enhancing quality control. It helps reinforce adherence to the minimum operating protocol that guarantees and assures a product or service is genuine, safe and relevant.
What’s a Trademark?
Essentially, trademarks are intellectual property (IP) that belong to the initial creator. Trademarks are limited to a product or service and protect symbols, words, slogans, logos, phrases, pictures, shapes, numerals, and preserved business records with seals.
Practical Steps to Trademark Audits
Review
All trademarks undergo a process of scrutiny and evaluation of their performance from the time of inception to their current status. Trademarks must be weighed concerning shifting business dynamics or the need to update, enhance or revise new areas that need protecting.
Rationalisation
Present or current business dynamics may necessitate a look at all the trademark aspects versus current business realities. It eliminates areas or portions that are no longer necessary in the present business context or research context. Or highlight and bring something extra that empowers and makes the trademark gain prominence.
Improve or Enhance
After a careful review and rationalisation process, practical steps are taken that help improves the validity of the trademark. That includes applications to the rightful authorities concerned with the registration and validation of intellectual property.
Importance of Regular Trademark Audits
Preserve and Safeguard Innovation and Intellectual Property
Innovation is what keeps the wheels of discovery or invention moving. And that greatly impacts the well-being of businesses, national economies or global applications and usages. That means trademark audits safeguard and strive to reward and ensure that the real innovator’s rights are kept safe and secure from unauthorised use and exploitation.
Infringements may include misuse or attempted misuse of trademark rights without due acknowledgement or express permissions of the rights holders either for financial gain (profit) or intentions to hurt/ malign the credibility and integrity of the original rights holder.
Affirm IP Records in the IP Portfolio Management Platform
The importance and purpose of conducting trademark audits are to confirm regularly that all record fillings in IP records are still intact. The need to validate and affirm non-infringement, abuse or to know its exact parameters makes trademark audits vital.
Rightful Invention Attribution
Trademarks result from intensive research and dedicated resources that make something tangible or useful possible. They establish the rightful finder and researcher. Research is a lengthy process, sometimes hectic and with no definitive solution overnight. Rightful attribution of discovery and innovation is vital.
When seeking to protect your trademark, ensure you have a regular trademark audit plan for your organisation. Whether it is a general, event-driven or limited–purpose, a trademark audit helps establish and validate several facts about the worth and security of intangible company assets.
