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In today’s world, social media marketing is essential. But, social media platforms can also be dangerous places for brand-based businesses. Fortunately, there are steps companies can take to protect their trademarks on social media—both initially and on an ongoing basis. Alabama trademark lawyer Hunter Adams explains:

With the proliferation of smartphones in the past decade and a half, apps have become ubiquitous. From streaming video to social networking to banking to doing your taxes, there is an app for everything. Some major businesses, such as Uber, Tinder, and Instagram, are app-first or even app-only, with their primary method of customer engagement coming overwhelmingly through a smartphone app interface. With more and more traditional goods and services being accessed through smartphone apps, forward-thinking businesses can incorporate their app icons into their larger trademark strategies with the assistance of an Alabama trademark lawyer. 

Trademark protection is essential for protecting your brand. Not only does a trademark differentiate your goods for services from those of others, but it also allows you to build goodwill with consumers through the trademark’s association with superior quality products or services. As such, you want to make sure that you pick a trademark that will offer your brand the most protection possible. Not all trademarks are equal; some offer stronger protection than others. An Alabama trademark lawyer can help you select and register a trademark that will deliver the protection your brand needs. 

The Trademark Modernization Act (TMA) was passed in December 2020 and is slated to go into effect on December 18 of this year. Rather than making sweeping, substantive changes to trademark law, the TMA is intended to give the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) new avenues for removing unused or fraudulent trademark registrations from the federal trademark register. Such registrations add “dead weight” to the trademark register and can prevent legitimate trademark applicants from registering their marks. Among other provisions, the TMA does this by creating two new procedures for challenging unused trademark registrations: ex parte expungement and ex parte reexamination. If you are having difficulty registering your trademark due to an existing, unused registration, please contact an Alabama trademark lawyer. 

For many businesses, trademarks are their most valuable intellectual property assets. And it’s easy to see why; trademarks identify your brand to consumers and distinguish it from those of others. If you have created a valuable product that is wildly successful in the marketplace — even in the absence of patent protection — your trademark will be similarly valuable. But because trademarks arise and remain in force through use, it is possible to inadvertently lose your trademark rights if you are not careful. An Alabama trademark lawyer explains how below.