Trademark management – Trademark audit
Given the considerable investment required for brand building a business ought to also periodically audit its efforts in doing so. This will help to verify whether all its activities are in conformity with the stated objectives and goals, and whether these were implemented in the most cost effective manner so as to derive the maximum leverage and greatest impact on consumers. So, like a patent audit, a trademark audit is done periodically to determine whether effective and efficient use of resources has been made. More importantly, the audit findings are used to guide the future efforts of the business to maintain and grow a cost‐effective trademark portfolio.
A trademark audit entails at least a review of all the trademarks owned by a business, which of these are valuable, and what must be done to maintain all the trademark registrations in a timely and cost‐effective manner. The cost of maintaining, policing and enforcing each mark should be evaluated against the benefits accrued before deciding which of the marks need to be renewed, or revitalized, or which ones may be abandoned, sold or licensed to others. When a product is not doing well in a market segment it may have to be repositioned in that or another market segment in the same or another market.
This may entail making modifications to its mark or creating a new mark to suit its new image. When a product fails or it has been decided to discontinue it, its mark may be abandoned, sold or licensed, depending on the available options and the business strategy chosen by a business.
A trademark audit may also evaluate the contribution of individual marks to the trademark portfolio or in building the brand strategy and brand equity of the business. In this manner, a trademark audit may contribute significantly to the efforts of a business to reevaluate its strategy in the use of its trademarks and to review its overall marketing policies, including pricing policies.
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