Trademarks

Positioning, enhancing and defending your trademark

Lavoix offers advice on how to protect trademarks and all distinctive signs.

Lavoix assists its clients in determining a trademark strategy that is adapted to the company’s strategy.

Trademark services include all the issues encountered by clients:

Study on brand distinctiveness,
Flash searches,
Artificial intelligence searches of existing trademarks, domain names, company names, trade names and usage checks, as well as usage investigations,
Usage checks and usage investigations,
Releases of trademarks,
Determining protection strategies (scope, identifications, etc.),
Preparing filings in France and abroad,
Following up on review procedures and obtaining registrations,

Managing renewals, affidavits, and priority periods,
Negotiating and drafting contracts (assignments, licences, coexistence, collateralisation, confidentiality agreements, co-ownership agreements, etc.),
Portfolio-related registrations with various offices worldwide,
Optimising portfolio management,
Trademark commercialisation (licences, etc.),
Trademark, company name, and domain name monitoring,
Monitoring marketplaces, the web, and social media
Competitor trademark monitoring,
Customs monitoring,
Opposition proceedings, revocation actions and invalidity actions worldwide,
Pre-litigation and litigation before all types of courts

FAQ

What is a trademark?

A trademark is a distinctive sign that allows consumers to differentiate a company’s products and services from those offered by its competitors. The function of a trademark is to indicate the commercial origin of the products or services it covers.

It can take the form of a word, a figure element, a combination of word and design (logo), a shape, a color, a position, a motion, a multimedia, a sound, etc.

By registering a trademark, the owner obtains the monopoly to operate in the relevant territory and for the covered products and services, for a period of 10 years, renewable indefinitely.

The trademark grants an exclusive right. Therefore, it cannot be used without the trademark owner’s consent.

What are the criteria for a trademark to be valid?

To be valid, a trademark must be:

Distinctive (must not be generic, descriptive, or commonly used for the products or services covered)
Available (must not infringe on prior rights)
Lawful (must not be contrary to public policy or morality)
Non-deceptive (must not be misleading)

The validity of a trademark does not require novelty or originality.

What cannot be registered as a trademark?

The following cannot be registered, or if registered, may be declared invalid:

A sign that does not meet the aforementioned validity conditions
A sign consisting exclusively of the shape or another characteristic of the product imposed by the nature of the product, necessary to obtain a technical result, or that gives the product substantial value
An official protected sign, such as state emblems, official hallmarks, public coats of arms, or flags

How to protect my trademark?

Determine the sign to be protected and the products and services that will be covered by your trademark, then classify them according to the international Nice classification.
Recommendation : File your trademark before using it to avoid the risk of a third-party filing.
Ensure that the trademark is available by conducting prior rights searches.
Verify that other validity criteria for the trademark are duly met.
Establish a protection strategy with your Industrial Property Attorney to optimize geographic coverage and associated costs.
File applications according to the defined strategy and follow the examination procedures until registration.
Monitor the use of your trademarks in registries, on the web and marketplaces, and with customs to be alerted in case of unauthorized use.

How long does trademark protection last?

Trademark protection generally lasts for 10 years from the filing date of the trademark application, and applies to the territory in which the trademark has been granted, and it can be renewed indefinitely.
This protection is subject to the payment of renewal fees at each due date.

Lavoix supports you in all your trademark filing procedures, including post-filing monitoring and throughout the life of your trademark.
For any questions, feel free to contact us.