Once Mathys & Squire has secured the registration of our clients’ trade marks, we provide ongoing commercial advice on how to achieve the best value from their registered rights. Clients with substantial portfolios are offered online access to those records at no extra cost. The benefits of such access include the ability to run bespoke reports, self-manage ongoing deadlines and closely monitor other trade mark issues.

As the value of a registered trade mark can be undermined by misuse, care must always be taken to ensure that its strength is not diluted. We offer our clients ‘best practice’ advice on the maintenance of their trade mark portfolios and the proper use of their registered trade marks (either directly or by authorised users) in order to avoid such problems arising. 

We advise all our clients to follow brand guidelines in order to ensure that they, and their licensees, use their trade marks correctly. If a brand is updated the registered mark may fall into disuse, which could affect the validity of the registration and the scope of brand owner’s rights. By maintaining an ongoing dialogue with our clients we are able to ensure that their registered trade marks are current and are being correctly used.

We offer regular reviews of your trade mark portfolio to ensure it continues to offer the most cost-effective protection for your branding. We can also provide regular estimates to cover on-going maintenance and proposed expansion plans, enabling you to budget for your future trade mark requirements with confidence.

In the majority of countries, trade mark registrations are renewable every ten years. We ensure that all renewal dates are monitored on your behalf and we contact you in good time before a trade mark’s expiry for your renewal instructions.

When using a trade mark it is advisable to clearly identify it as such, using a specific font, bold or upper case lettering or quotation marks, and, if the mark is registered, the ® symbol. If you have an unregistered mark which you consider to be your exclusive property you may use the letters ™ after the mark.

For advice on how best to manage a trade mark portfolio and maximise the commercial value of your marks talk to one of the trade mark attorneys at Mathys & Squire.