Trademarks define specific symbols, words, phrases or designs as yours alone, meaning that other companies cannot use them. Your company logo should be trademarked, for instance, along with other brand identifiers. If someone infringes on those marks, you can ask them to cease and desist and you may be able to sue.
Infringement of your trademark can mislead your customers and damage your brand’s reputation. The long-term economic damages can be fierce.
Different ways revenue is impacted
Every case is unique, of course, but here are a few ways you could feel the financial strain of a trademark infringement:
- Customers directly buy products from the competition rather than from you. That can erode your brand loyalty and cost you repeat business.
- Your brand is tarnished by low-quality products that appear to be yours. This can cause customers to avoid your company in the future, mistakenly believing that you made poor-quality items and charged too much for them.
- Customers are confused about what your company does or how to contact you. That can lead to a loss of sales and damage to your reputation through negative reviews.
In the worst cases, all of these things can happen together. You lose sales, you lose prestige and customers get confused and/or avoid your actual company in the future. Even minor cases of trademark infringement can be very problematic for your business. You need to protect your intellectual property at every turn to preserve your brand’s integrity.
Make sure you know what legal options you have at your disposal. Working with an experienced business law attorney can help you strategize a plan for protecting your brand from the start and help you know how to respond to infringements on your intellectual property.
Notice: We are providing this as general information only, and it should not be considered legal advice, which depends on the facts of each specific situation. Receipt of this content does not establish an attorney-client relationship.