Trademark

An active, robust trademark practice is integral to a comprehensive intellectual property strategy. Ober|Kaler’s intellectual property lawyers understand the importance of branding to our clients’ businesses. We also understand how hard our clients have worked to develop their trademarks, and the pride they take in their business reputations.

For many of our clients, trademarks are their most valuable intellectual property assets. For all clients, rapid expansion of the Internet and e-commerce have made it vitally important that a business stands out from the crowd through its trademarks, trade dress and other unique identifiers.

Our intellectual property lawyers have the depth of experience to provide national and international clients with the advice and counsel it takes to establish, protect and maintain trademarks that are crucial to a company’s brand recognition and asset portfolio.

Our clients trust us to safeguard this vital asset, and we manage a substantial trademark portfolio on their behalf. We work hand in hand with our clients, from identifying unique marks, prosecuting trademark applications and stopping infringement, to brand counseling and helping to maximize licensing opportunities.

Our services in the trademark arena include:

Trademark clearance and registration searches
Preparation of trademarks for U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) examination
International trademark services including global searches and registration
Licensing and license negotiation
Brand counseling and product launch advice
Representation before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board for Opposition and Cancellation procedures, both in bringing these actions on behalf of clients and defending clients against them
Enforcement of trademark registrations and rights through demand letters, ICANN proceedings (in the case of domain names with trademark rights) and litigation
Non-infringing use of competitors' marks in online and keyword advertising

Our thorough understanding of the laws and rules governing federal registration is complemented by our streamlined electronic USPTO filing procedure that results in efficiencies and reduced fees for our clients. In addition, we routinely file international trademark applications for clients through our affiliations with counsel in countries and jurisdictions around the world.

Our trademark clients come in all shapes and sizes, and span a broad range of industries – from traditional businesses such as hospitals, banks and manufacturing firms, to those in more recently created industries such as software developers, e-commerce entities and social networking companies. We have also helped e-commerce clients whose entire business model is based on their Internet presence fend off cybersquatters, key word advertisers and other Internet entities infringing on their trademarks and other intellectual properties. Our representation is scalable to a client’s size and needs – from small start-up firms with a single trademark to large institutional clients with substantial international trademark portfolios.

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