COVID-19 has brought disruption to many businesses and industries on a scale that was previously unheard of. Brand owners needed to meet this challenge head-on to determine how best to adapt and deploy resources to ensure their businesses stay afloat. While the pandemic continues raging on, we will continue to learn to adapt to it’s many challenges by considering the various brand protection strategies open to brand owners to explore available options and consider what is their best options to assist their businesses and brands to get back on track.
Adapting to such a crisis caused by the COVID-19 disruption means avoiding the impulse to stop work as doing so will cause more problems than it’s worth putting work on hold or abandoning ship. Problems can include setting a business’ output back several months back, wasting business resources, eroding the market perception’s of your business’ value and causing irreversiable damage to a business’s identity, brand and leadership.
With that in mind, like every serious discussion on business strategy it should be important to note that there is no such thing as a “one size fits all” solution to every business’ issues when it comes to brand protection. Each business’ brand, managerial style and core identity is unique from one and another. Many businesses have different drivers to success, different considerations on what’s important to the business and many other facts to consider in their brand protection strategy. What is consistent to the issue of IP and brand protection however is the critical importance that businesses should have when it comes to securing or maintaining their trademark protection.
Despite the interesting times we live in, trademark registration is a very important requirement to protecting your business brand
A trademark is more than a business asset. It is a badge of origin, a market identifier and a symbol of your brand’s ownership of your business. It conveys to people looking at the brand information about the business’ level of particular goods or services that speaks volumes of assurance regarding the business’ quality of goods/services, business ideas, concepts and goals to make itself known within a target market audience, consumer or client. Because of this, trademark registration remains a all time high importance for businesses as it provides the trademark owner with a legal right and ownership to monopolise the trademark symbol in relation to the trademark owner’s goods or services. A registrated trademark in short is a incredible insurance policy for a business and brand guaranteed to give quality and assurance to the market, clients and outside competitor’s regarding the trademark owner’s business.
Because of this, it comes to no surprise that we recommend that business place themselves and their brand in the best possible position by registering their trademark. In doing so, they would be protecting the distinguishing factor used by the market and consumers to differnetie business goods/services between competitors and it gives businesses the legal powers to take decisive legal action against unauthorised third parties infringing on the business trademark.
Maintaining the trademark’s rights is another important consideration to sustaining brand protection
After you register a trademark, it is doubly important to main the trademark’s rights and value in the market. A disruption like the COVID-19 pandemic does not mean a trademark portfolio should fall into disrepair by not being used nor does it mean businesses should abandon their trademark registration application. If a registered trademark is not being used it is vulnerable to being removed by the trademark office of your country. Businesses should therefore assess their brand and identify opportunities to use and promote the brand so that the brand is being used. For trademark applications that are pending approvable, businesses can consider seeking extensions, defer deadlines or focus on more effective ways to secure trademark registration.
Even so, a disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic also creates opportunities for larger businesses to go on the offensive with their brand. Many other smaller businesses might buckle under the challenges of the pandemic which presents a prime opportunity for larger businesses to acquire such businesses whose brands align with or compliment the larger business’ brand. In doing so, the acquisition of such businesses sends a strong signal to the market that the larger business is doing well in the midst of a coronavirus crisis; it demonstrates to them that the large business’ brand is boooming. Bear in mind, there may be larger businesses than your own who might see the same opportunity to acquire your business and as such there is merit in distuinguishing your brand through a registered trademark and by taking active positions in the market to combat competitors who might be slow to move in this interesting time that the market and economy sees itself in.
What are my next steps?
When it comes to any considerations a business may have with engaing with their brand, it is important that they include a lawyer or a trademark attorney in these discussions. Partners Law Groups have the very best lawyers who are equipped to explore your best available options regarding brands and whether a business is in the right position to adopt a defensive, offensive or cautious strategy with their IP and brand protection.
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Cover photo from PhotoByToR found on Shutterstock.