Re:Marks on Copyright and Trademark

Repost from Intellectual Property and Technology News (US) – Q1, 2013

By Darius C. Gambino 

Trade dress protection has existed for more than a hundred years in the United States, but for a long time took a back seat to patents, trademarks and copyrights in the intellectual property pantheon. Then came the US Supreme Court decisions in Two Pesos, Wal-Mart and Traffix Devices, raising the profile of trade dress and altering the public’s perceptions. In the 15 years since then, the number of applications filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office seeking trade dress protection has increased dramatically, and so has litigation over trade dress claims. Because trade dress litigation is, in most cases, significantly cheaper than patent litigation, it may soon become a major competitor to patent litigation as a means of resolving disputes.

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This video was originally posted by the DLA Piper Italian Intellectual Property and Technology team at http://blog.dlapiper.com/iptitaly/.

A bulletin from the Media & Sport Group at DLA Piper

GAMING & BETTING

Betfair files complaint with the EC over newly passed Cypriot laws that ban betting exchanges

This legal action challenges the Cypriot legislature’s unanimous move to prohibit betting exchanges and online casino games.

Betfair, the leading online betting exchange, filed a formal complaint with the European Commission (Commission) on 10 September 2012 in relation to recently passed Cypriot gambling legislation. This new legislation was passed in July of this year, the most fundamental feature of which is the prohibition of online casino (including poker) and betting exchanges. Therefore, only sports betting (other than exchanges) are permitted.

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By David M. Kramer

A new opportunity is on the horizon for brand owners seeking to expand their online presence in China. Starting September 15, 2012, owners of a valid trademark registration will be able to register .中国 (or “.CHINA”) domain names corresponding to their registered marks.

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Reposted from Law à la Mode, Edition 6 - Summer 2012

By Alexander S. Birkhold (New York)

The recent formation of the Model Alliance, an organization seeking to enforce and expand existing legal protections for models in the United States, has prompted increased US scrutiny of employment and image rights issues in the fashion industry.

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A group of us from our DLA Piper IPT group around the world, including those from Hong Kong, San Diego and Washington, DC are in Beijing, China attending the United States-China Intellectual Property Adjudication Conference. Yesterday, several top Chinese judicial and government leaders joined Gary Locke, U.S. Ambassador to the PRC, Judge Randall Rader, Chief Judge to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and David Kappos, Under Secretary of Commerce for IP, Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to talk about our shared goal of IP enforcement. Key issues will be discussed in the areas of trademark, patent and copyright. The Chinese press came out in force to cover the opening ceremony of the Conference and the judges and commissioners speaking there.

By Rebecca Kay

This Tuesday, members of DLA Piper's Fashion, Retail and Design Group assembled in Washington with retail clients from around the globe, for a working lunch entitled "Around the retail world in sixty minutes: Reflecting the top branding issues for retailers in 2012". As well as being a fantastic opportunity to catch up with industry peers, the event was a fascinating insight into topical issues and concerns.

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INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND TECHNOLOGY ALERT

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has just begun accepting applications for the new generic top-level domain (gTLD) program.  This program allows organizations to own their own top-level domain extension and is intended to greatly proliferate the number of available domain extensions beyond the “.com,” “.org” and limited number of other extensions to which Internet users are accustomed.  

With a few exceptions, organizations can apply to have almost anything to the right of the dot, including their company’s own brand name or a generic term.

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Reposted from DLA Piper's Law à la Mode Edition 4 - Winter 2011

By: Ann K. Ford, Kiran N. Gore, and Debbie Rosenbaum (New York and Washington DC)

Fashion is an integral part of how consumers construct their personal identities and choose to portray themselves in their everyday lives.  From a societal perspective, we correlate luxury fashion brands with success and exclusiveness.  We notice individuals with red-soled stilettos or LV patterned brown leather purses because we know that while these individuals could have chosen from a variety of options, they chose to identify themselves with expensive emblems of status.  This aura of exclusiveness is the value that luxury brands provide to their consumers: few can have it; the others merely aspire to it.

Social media stands in stark contrast to this image.  Social media platforms are inherently noisy, crowded and easily accessible from a variety of platforms.  This dichotomy begs the question: will using social media tarnish the value of luxury brands by making them too accessible by the masses?

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Reposted from DLA Piper's Law à la Mode Edition 4 - Winter 2011

By: Bartolome Martin (Madrid)

Some decades ago, the Spanish Tourism Authority’s advertisements across Europe proudly touted that “Spain is different.”  In reality, this may indeed be true.  Spain is an idiosyncratic country where universality and localism are good friends, crisis and luxury seem to have a passionate relationship, and customs from the past walk hand in hand with the latest trends.  This self-contradicting spirit, cultural individuality and inherent diversity are without a doubt reflected in the Spanish fashion market. 

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This e-newsletter is written by the DLA Piper Trademarks team. For more information about the articles or the trademark services of DLA Piper, please contact trademarkemea@dlapiper.com.

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By Siân Croxon, Partner, DLA Piper UK

The CJEU has provided some clarification of the law on when EU customs officials can seize counterfeit goods that are merely in transit through the EU. 

The story began in 2008 when a consignment of Nokia branded mobile phones arrived in Heathrow in transit from China to Colombia.  The customs officer was suspicious and sent a sample to Nokia for inspection which duly revealed that the phones were indeed counterfeit.

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Reposted from DLA Piper's Media & Sport Group Bulletin

Editorial Team: Nick Fitzpatrick, Duncan Calow and Patrick Mitchell

A coalition led by the BPI, a music industry body representing a coalition of Hollywood film studios, publishers and record companies, has requested that BT and several other UK ISPs block one of the largest illegal filesharing sites in the world.

The request by the BPI represents the first to be made since the landmark Newzbin2 ruling in August 2011 (for details see the August 2011 edition of Media Intelligence here and the November 2011 edition here) which ordered BT to block its internet subscribers' access to the website of Newzbin2, another illegal filesharing service, using BT's "CleanFeed" filtering technology. Along with a written request to BT made earlier this month, the BPI has also requested that Virgin Media, O2, Talk Talk, Orange and Sky voluntarily block access to The Pirate Bay's website. The Pirate Bay has already been subject to blocking actions in several other jurisdictions around the world.

Meanwhile, following the Newzbin2 ruling, the Motion Picture Association (MPA), the organisation responsible for bringing the Newzbin2 case against BT, is now looking for similar blocking action in respect of Newzbin2 to be taken by the UK's other major ISPs. On 9 November, the MPA confirmed that it had written to Virgin Media, Sky and TalkTalk and sparking interest in whether there might be a move towards another formal court order in the coming weeks.

Reprinted from La A La Mode, DLA Piper's Fashion, Retail and Design E-zine

by Louis Puts (Brussels)

Online marketplaces such as auction sites are often used as platforms for selling unlawful fashion products. On 12 July, 2011, the CJEU rendered an important decision concerning the unlawful offers of cosmetic products with L'Oréal's trademarks on eBay. For the first time, the decision has clarified the circumstances under which online marketplace operators may be held responsible for unlawful trade-marked products offered for sale on their platform site, under trade-mark law, the E-Commerce and the IP Enforcement Directives.

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DLA PIPER IPT ALERT

By Ruth Hoy and Patrick Van Eecke

As was the case in Newzbin 2, a national court, in deciding whether to order an ISP to implement technical measures to deal with copyright infringement on the part of the ISP's customers, will need to consider whether the proposed measures are proportionate.  In doing so, it will need to strike a fair balance between the protection of intellectual property and that of a freedom to conduct a business enjoyed by ISPs.

On 24 November 2011, the CJEU gave its judgment in a case brought by SABAM, a Belgian collecting society, against Scarlet Extended SA (formerly Tiscali SA).

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Reprinted from La A La Mode, DLA Piper's Fashion, Retail and Design E-zine

by Emma Greenow (Brussels)

With what can seem to be an overwhelming increase in the quantity and complexity of EU regulation facing the fashion industry, understanding and taking action in this area can seem as if you are navigating a tangled web of issues and stakeholders.

The recent EU regulatory agenda has included policy reviews in relation to the intellectual property framework, the Digital Agenda, Online Behavioural Advertising, Consumer Rights and redress amongst others. Each of these developments has a direct impact on business activities in the fashion industry in Europe and, for this reason, interaction from rightsholders into the creation of the regulatory framework is essential.

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Reposted from DLA Piper's Media & Sport Group Bulletin

Editorial Team: Nick Fitzpatrick, Duncan Calow and Patrick Mitchell

The UK Intellectual Property Office ("IPO") has signed a landmark agreement with the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property ("IMPI") to improve cooperation between the two nations on issues of copyright, patents, trade marks and designs.

The agreement aims to support the growth of UK businesses operating in Mexico and follows recommendations made in the Hargreaves Report that the UK should continue to pursue international interests in intellectual property.

UK Minister for Intellectual Property, Baroness Wilcox, said: "in the midst of a globalised era, it is imperative for Governments to jointly collaborate on common understandings such as innovation. We are certain that this partnership will enrich our IP systems, and will benefit IP stakeholders in both economies".

Reposted from DLA Piper's Media & Sport Group Bulletin

Editorial Team: Nick Fitzpatrick, Duncan Calow and Patrick Mitchell

A Joint Committee of MPs and peers from the House of Commons and House of Lords ("the Committee") has issued a report on the Draft Defamation Bill ("the Bill"), approving many of the Government's proposals but also recommending further changes that should be made to libel laws.

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It goes without saying that companies are increasingly using social media to reach new customers and to strengthen relationships with loyal customers.  As you may already know, Google opened its social media platform, Google+, to businesses and brand owners today.  A Google+ profile is similar to a Facebook Fan page, and we want to encourage you to set up an official page to both promote and protect your brand.   You can open your company's Plus page at http://plus.google.com/pages/create.

As always, let us know if you have any questions or if we can be helpful in any way.

Reposted from DLA Piper's Media & Sport Group Bulletin

Editorial Team: Nick Fitzpatrick, Duncan Calow and Patrick Mitchell

Arsenal have successfully persuaded the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office to force a shop owner in Seville to change the name of her shop from 'Arsenale'.

Arsenal succeeded in demonstrating that the use of the name Arsenale for a hat, shoe and clothes store in Seville constituted a breach of Arsenal's trademark due to the risk of confusion between the two names.

The owner, Alicia Simon, registered the name Arsenale in 2007 and has faced a legal pursuit from the London club ever since. She claims that the name had nothing to do with the club and is in fact a reference to the Italian word given to shipbuilders' yards in medieval Pisa and Venice. Indeed, Ms Simon's assertion of cultural influences are supported by the location of the shop in the Arenal de Sevilla district, where Seville's medieval shipyards were historically located.

Ms Simon has subsequently appealed the decision to a Madrid tribunal.

Reposted from DLA Piper's Media & Sport Group Bulletin

Editorial Team: Nick Fitzpatrick, Duncan Calow and Patrick Mitchell

The Advertising Standard Agency ("ASA") order that an advertisement for thetrainline.com be removed due to its misleading content.

The television advertisement for thetrainline.com, which was broadcast on 9 May 2011, featured people carrying placards that stated "Save 43% on average" and "Save up to 6pm the day before travel". On-screen text stated "Advance fares and selected routes only. Subject to availability".

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By Nicholas Cole, Special Counsel, DLA Piper Australia

On 14th September 2011, the Australian Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy announced an independent inquiry into the Australian media (Media Inquiry).

The Media Inquiry significantly expands the scope of the Government's existing review of the policy and regulatory frameworks that apply to the converged media and communications landscape in Australia (Convergence Review).

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Reposted from DLA Piper's Media & Sport Group Bulletin

Editorial Team: Nick Fitzpatrick, Duncan Calow and Patrick Mitchell

The Advertising Standards Authority's Digital Media Survey 2011 has revealed that the advertising on 95% of websites monitored adhered to the Advertising Code.

As part of the Advertising Standards Authority ("ASA")'s survey, 120 websites were monitored by the ASA Compliance team for a period to 1 March. In addition, the ASA Compliance team contacted the offending website owners and sought an assurance that they would amend their advertising to ensure compliance on a go-forward basis.

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Excerpts from DLA Piper's INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND TECHNOLOGY NEWS - ASIA PACIFIC | Issue 2, Q2 2011 

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Reposted from DLA Piper's Media & Sport Group bulletin

Editorial Team: Nick Fitzpatrick, Duncan Calow and Patrick Mitchell

Trading Standards Officers of Coventry City Council have discovered cigarette lighters displaying protected Olympic trademarks.

The goods were seized at a car boot sale, as part of a regular inspection by Trading Standards officers. The lighters displayed the Olympic symbol and London 2012, which are protected trade marks, and did so without the authority of the controller of those marks, The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games. Various Olympic-related words and marks are given elevated protection under the Olympic Symbol (Protection) Act 1995 and the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act 2006.

This seizure provides another example of trading standards officers working in conjunction with the organisers of the 2012 Games to seek to prevent so-called ambush marketing. We understand that steps are now being taken to trace the supply of these lighters.

Reposted from DLA Piper's Media & Sport Group bulletin

Editorial Team: Nick Fitzpatrick, Duncan Calow and Patrick Mitchell

Mr Justice Floyd has referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union ("CJEU") the question of whether live streaming of television programmes over the internet is a "communication to the public" and therefore subject to copyright laws.

TV Catchup Limited ("TVC") operate an internet based live streaming service of broadcast television programmes, including films, in which the copyright is owned by broadcasters ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5.  TVC's website allows members of the public to access live UK television on computers, games consoles and smart phones. There are over 50 channels available.

In November last year, with the threat of a copyright infringement action looming, TVC applied to the High Court for summary judgment against the broadcasters, on the basis that their claim would have no real prospect of success at trial.  TVC argued that in order to infringe copyright in a broadcast under section 20 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 ("CDPA 1988") ("communication to the public"), the alleged infringer's transmission must itself be a broadcast within the meaning of s.6 CDPA 1988.  Mr Justice Kitchin disagreed and the case proceeded to trial.

Last week, Mr Justice Floyd handed down the High Court's judgment.  He provisionally agreed with the claimants' contention that TVC's streaming service is a "communication to the public" for the purposes of section 20 of the CDPA 1988, but considered that the principles set out in the leading CJEU authority on this point, the Rafael Hoteles case, did not go far enough to enable him to answer the question conclusively in the claimants' favour.  He therefore referred the question to the CJEU.

Floyd J. also addressed the issue of whether TVC had reproduced a "substantial part" of the films and broadcasts in its buffers and on the screens of users.  This issue is currently awaiting judgment by the CJEU in the Football Association Premier League v QC Leisure case, in relation to the screening of live foreign broadcasts of Premier League matches in pubs.  Pending that judgment, Floyd J. expressed the provisional view that TVC had reproduced a substantial part of the films in its buffers and onscreen, but not a substantial part of the broadcasts.  Questions on these issues will also be referred to the CJEU, but are likely to be conclusively determined much more swiftly by the Premier League judgment.

Floyd J. also held that final judgment on TVC's defence under section 28A of the CDPA (which permits in certain circumstances the making of temporary copies which are transient or incidental and an integral and essential part of a technological process, and which have no independent economic significance) should be deferred pending the outcome of the Premier League case; his provisional view is that the defence does apply to reproduction in the buffers ("it is reasonably clear that the reproductions in the buffers have no independent economic significance"), but he was less certain in relation to reproduction on users' screens.

In a landmark ruling, the UK High Court has delivered its verdict in Round Two of Hollywood versus the Copyright Pirates – despite Newzbin2 not even taking part in the fight.

Ringside rules

Rights-holders have long sought an effective legal mechanism to reduce the scale of online piracy of copyright material by UK users. Rights-holders are often prevented from taking action against primary infringers because they locate themselves beyond the jurisdiction of the courts or use decentralised networks in order to distribute content.  On the other hand, taking action against individual consumers has never been the favoured option.  Internet service providers ("ISPs"), the rights-holders argue, are the gatekeepers that provide the facilities that allow UK users to infringe copyright on a massive scale.  Moreover, they are not a moving target and have the practical means to restrict access to sources of infringements.

This case turned on the application of section 97A of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, which provides that the High Court has the power to grant an injunction against an internet service provider ("ISP") where the ISP has "actual knowledge of another person using their service to infringe copyright".  The section was adopted in order to implement Article 8(3) of the Information Society Directive (2001/29/EC): "Member States shall ensure that rightsholders are in a position to apply for an injunction against intermediaries whose services are used by a third party to infringe a copyright or related right".  However, despite having the potential to be a valuable weapon against infringers, the provision has long sat collecting dust, untested by rights-holders. 

Until now.

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By John Wilks and Damian Herrington, DLA Piper UK

In its first ever ruling on an intellectual property case, the UK's Supreme Court has decided in Lucasfilm v Ainsworth that the stormtrooper helmets used in the Star Wars films were not "sculptures", and thus were not protected by the English law of copyright.

Significantly, however, the Supreme Court also ruled that the infringement claims based on US copyright brought by Lucasfilm in respect of Mr Ainsworth's acts in the US were justiciable in the English courts, a ruling which could have wide-ranging implications for the ability of English courts to decide claims for acts taking place in foreign countries which infringe the copyright in those countries.  The case indicates that if a defendant is resident in England, the English courts will be prepared to deal with claims for infringement of foreign copyright.

Whether the decision leads to full scale forum shopping by copyright infringement claimants remains to be seen.  But it will give claimants a useful litigation option in cases where there is international infringement of copyright by an English-domiciled defendant.

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Guest blog post by Carissa L. Bouwer. Carissa is a summer associate in the Sacramento office of DLA Piper. She attends University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law and will obtain a J.D. in 2012.  

Advances in technology have changed the way lawyers conduct research, communicate with clients, discover information about opposing parties, and even file documents with courts.  Is the next advancement likely to be in the way that defendants are served process?

Since 2008, the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia have all allowed substituted service of process through Facebook when a defendant could not otherwise be served.  In 2009, the United Kingdom allowed an injunction to be served via Twitter by sending a message that contained a link to the injunction.  In giving approval for service through social networking sites, the courts required that reasonable efforts were made to serve the defendants, that they could not be served in another manner, and that the service was likely to give actual notice.  The Australian court also stipulated that the papers be sent through a private message and not just posted on the defendant’s wall where it would go into the newsfeed of all of the defendant’s friends.

There are approximately 150 million Facebook users in the United States and more than 750 million around the world.  Twitter users number 300 million.  LinkedIn had 3.6 million visitors in May.  In comparison, readership of newspapers is decreasing dramatically: New York Times print edition is 1.4 million on Sundays and 1.8 million people read USA Today. 

In the United States, the minimum standard for service of process has long been to provide “actual notice.”  In Mullane v. Central Hanover Bank & Trust, the Supreme Court said that due process requires that “notice is reasonably calculated, under all the circumstances, to apprise interested parties of the pendency of the action and afford them an opportunity to present their objections.”  Notice by publication is not thought to give actual notice when a defendant’s identity is known.  That is especially understandable today, as print newspapers are a declining industry and readership continues to fall.  However, a large percentage of the population, nationally and globally, check their e-mail and other social networking sites daily, if not hourly.  When people move from place to place, their access to social networking sites moves with them.  Where other methods of notice have failed, a Facebook message may serve the ultimate goal of providing actual notice to a defendant who can’t be physically found.  It also has the advantages of being fast, cheap, and seems particularly appropriate when the underlying action is web-based.  To date, there are no reported cases of service of process in the U.S. being made through social networking, but attorneys may begin to consider it an option for defendants who are avoiding service by traditional methods.

There are concerns about identifying the correct person and confirming that their social networking accounts are active.  Courts will, and should, require that evidence be offered proving the documents served on social media sites will come to the defendant’s knowledge.  But once those concerns have been alleviated, service through social media may be the next great step of using technology to bring us closer together.

In June, our team was asked to contribute to a Managing Intellectual Property Magazine feature on trademark protection for slogans/phrases. Our responses were provided alongside responses from seven other practitioners from around the world as part of a global practice feature MIP runs on a monthly basis.  Here are our answers, and we encourage you to read the others in the June 2011 edition of MIP here. 

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At a special meeting in Singapore, the board of directors of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) approved a plan that will bring wide-reaching changes to the Internet's generic top-level domain structure. 

The measure, which allows private companies and other organizations to create new website domain name suffixes (such as dot-movie, dot-insurance, dot-brand, or dot-dlapiper, for example), passed by a vote of 13-1, with two members abstaining. With the plan approved, ICANN now launches a six-month Global Communication Campaign designed to raise awareness about the coming changes among consumers and potential applicants. 

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Posted by Alexander Tsoutsanis, senior associate with DLA Piper in Amsterdam.

On Monday 23rd May, Alexander Tsoutsanis spoke at Stanford during the Stanford Intellectual Property Seminar for IP Judges from the People's Republic of China. Alexander was a panelist speaking about recent developments in Europe on the protection of well-known marks. Apart from explaining the European approach on determining blurring, tarnishment and free-riding associated with well-known marks, Alexander also discussed the general impact of the recent decision of the European Court of Justice in DHL v. Chronopost of 12 april 2011. This decision about Community Trade Marks basically obliges European courts to limit a cross-border injuction to (only) those jurisdictions where the functions of the plaintiff's mark are harmed (and e.g. confusion in the market place occurs). This ruling may therefore require brand owners to revise their litigation strategy in cross-border trade mark injunctions in the European market. The panel session was part of a week-long visit of Chinese IP Judges to Stanford, in which leading scholars and legal counsels explained the current developments and best practices in protecting Intellectual Property.

Alexander is a senior associate with DLA Piper in Amsterdam and also a part-time assistant professor in Intellectual Property Law at Leiden Law School.

Posted by Scott Buchanan, Partner DLA Piper Australia

In the battle for co-existence between national brands and private brands (in Australia, known as home or house brands), several truths emerge:

• National brand owners have to accept competition represented by emergence of home brands and furthermore, that home brands can often quite lawfully borrow from, and leverage off, the look and feel and get up of a national brand.  
• The ability for a national brand owner to successfully enforce its intellectual property rights will typically turn on whether the company has taken positive steps of registering its trade mark rights and demonstrating ownership of other packaging rights - eg. trade dress, copyright.
• Proof of ownership, particularly registered rights, will give a trade mark owner the necessary 'cut through' to force a meaningful conversation with private brand owners.
• Any aspect of packaging which you regard as your valuable IP - eg colours, shapes, layout and design - should be registered as individual trade marks. The benefits of registration, when it comes to enforcement and protection of your patch, far outweigh relatively minor costs of registration.

During a constructive INTA panel discussion of representatives from manufacturers, private and national brand owners, valuable insight was provided today into the challenges for business in adopting new brand names which don't infringe upon third party rights. Target's in-house counsel revealed that several hundred brand concepts were considered and searched before settling on their UP and UP brand.  Unless you, as a national brand owner, take the positive steps of registering your trade marks then your marks will not be revealed on these searches and a battle with a private label inevitably looms.

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By Ann Ford and Ryan Compton

Today, May 11, 2011, marks the opening of the Sunrise period for reservation of the newly-created .ASIA domain names utilizing characters from the Chinese, Japanese and Korean written language. Referred to as "Internationalized Domain Names" or "IDNs," these domains will allow for companies to register their company names in, for example, Chinese Kanji script followed by the .ASIA top-level domain. Today's opening of the sunrise period allows registered businesses, registered trademark owners and existing owners of .ASIA top-level domains to register these new IDNs.

It is important to note that this sunrise period is not a landrush, wherein registration would be first-come-first-served. Rather, applications will be accepted from today until July 20, 2011, after which point any contested domains will be put to auction. Nonetheless, clients are encouraged to apply for their names as soon as possible, as the July 20 deadline will approach quickly. Shortly thereafter, on August 2, 2011, the landrush period will open, at which point registration will be granted first-come-first-served.

As always, please feel free to contact us at DLA Piper with any questions or concerns you might have concerning this or any other domain name registration or enforcement issues.

As always, we are eager to share publications from DLA Piper's Trademark teams across the world. Here is the latest version of France's Trademark and Design February/March newsletter.

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Every quarter our team publishes an Intellectual Property and Technology newsletter, in which we regularly analyze and explore issues related to trademark, copyright and advertising law along with the other areas of IP.  Allyn Taylor, one of our partners, wrote an article for the last edition that we'd like to reshare.

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Protecting your brand on a global scale

By Allyn Taylor

Back when products and services were sold via brick and mortar stores, only large corporations or conglomerates seriously considered seeking global protection for valued brand names. Now, however, in the age of the Internet and Cloud, goods and services can be delivered virtually anywhere. Seeking trademark protection on a global basis is often a logical option for even a small company. Yet the question inevitably arises: “How do I accomplish this in an efficient, cost-effective manner?”

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