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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.

For further information, please follow the next contents, explore the world of intellectual property and chances that intellectual property may bring to your enterprise.

 

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