When should I register my trademark?
Timing is everything, and this is especially true when it comes to trademark registration. Choosing to trademark your brand at the right time is much more important than you would think.
Trademark Rights Exhaustion
Trademark rights exhaustion, also known as the "first sale doctrine," is a legal principle in trademark law that limits the control that a trademark owner has over the use of their trademarked products after they have been lawfully sold or distributed. Under the principle of trademark rights exhaustion, once a trademark owner has sold or authorized the sale of a product bearing their trademark, they cannot prevent the subsequent sale or resale of that product by third parties.
For example, if a company sells a product bearing its trademark, it cannot prohibit the buyer from reselling that product to someone else. The company's rights to control the use of their trademark are said to be "exhausted" after the initial sale.
Trademark rights exhaustion is based on the idea that trademark law is intended to prevent consumer confusion about the source of goods, rather than to give trademark owners control over the downstream use of their products. The principle of trademark rights exhaustion ensures that consumers can freely buy and sell goods without fear of infringing on trademark rights.
From our blog
Stories of our clients: Cyber Expedite
“Our goal at Cyber Expedite™ is to modernise the cyber security service procurement industry, to help organisations answer one simple question: I know I need a security service; I just don’t know what to ask for and who provides that service. We put so much effort into trading names and reviewing web domain registrations etc, why would you not want to protect that?” Cyber Expedite, founded by Niall McEvoy, seeks to add value to every organisation by simplifying the scoping and delivery of cyber security solutions and services.
Perceived similarity of trademarks: Lessons from Starbucks trademark disputes
One of the most common reasons for trademark disputes has to do with the perceived similarity between existing trademarks. The two trademarks are considered “similar” if they share common characteristics connected to their appearance, sound, meaning and commercial impression, and if they are used for related goods or services. This is seen as a problem from brand perspective because the consumers might believe that the owners of the two trademarks are related, affiliated, connected, or that the goods or services originate from the same source.