No. 3: You are Misusing Your Own Trademark
Many small firms spend significant amounts of money filing for trademark protection for the brands they plan to market (or have marketed) their products or services under.
Admittedly, the costs associated with preparing, filing and maintaining trademarks are far less than those associated with patents. As a small entrepreneurial firm, however, there is little room for any wasted expenditures!
Many small firms simply fail to schedule a legal review of their website, product literature and other marketing collateral for proper trademark usage.
For example, a firm may file for and obtain a federal registration for the trademark “MyBrand” in conjunction with a new router product it has developed. Yet, the firm may misuse its own trademark by having its website, product literature and other marketing collateral read, for example: “Our MyBrand® is the fastest router on the market! Contact us for more information about MyBrand®.”
With proper trademark usage, the statement should read: “Our MyBrand® router is the fastest on the market! Contact us for more information about our MyBrand® router.” Suffice it to say, and without getting into “Trademark Law 101,” the whole trademark system is based on the concept of “distinctiveness.”
Trademarks are adjectives used to describe the source of a product or service, not nouns to be used as a synonym for the product or service itself. This may seem like a trivial point, but it can have huge legal implications should the firm ever have to enforce the trademark.
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A very important distinction! It is amazing how easily one can fall into the ‘noun trap’ and, eventually, how iconic brands fall into the ‘verb trap’ like googling and xeroxing!
Great post!