Trademark monitoring involves ongoing tracking of trademark databases to detect new applications for identical or confusingly similar trademarks. Regular monitoring of trademark databases makes it possible to detect infringements at an early stage and to file an opposition against attempts to unlawfully register an identical or similar trademark before it is registered. In this way, the owner of the earlier trademark can effectively prevent the registration of new trademarks that infringe or threaten their rights. Due to the number of trademark databases (PL, EUIPO, WIPO) and the size of trademark databases (several million trademarks), effective monitoring should be carried out by specialists using advanced tools.

Every trademark owner who invests in building their brand and plans to expand into domestic and foreign markets should monitor their trademark. Failure to monitor trademark databases on an ongoing basis may lead to the unlawful registration and use of the same trademark by third parties, loss of brand value, and the takeover of our customers by unfair competitors.

The legal remedy against the registration of a conflicting trademark by a third party is an opposition or a request for invalidation. The deadline for filing an opposition is three months from the date of publication of the conflicting trademark application in the relevant bulletin (Bulletin of the Polish Patent Office or EUIPO Bulletin). For this reason, it is important to keep track of the trademark database on an ongoing basis. Such tracking of the trademark database and deciding to file an opposition against a new registration is called trademark monitoring.

Unfortunately, registering a trademark does not guarantee that no one else will register an identical or confusingly similar trademark. Third parties may attempt to unlawfully exploit the popularity and reputation of our brand. One way of doing so is by applying to register identical or confusingly similar trademarks. Unfortunately, patent offices in Poland and the European Union are not obliged to monitor and refuse to register trademarks that are identical or similar to earlier trademarks. This is because Poland and the European Union have a so-called opposition system. The opposition system means that the registration of trademarks that are identical or similar to earlier trademarks is refused only on the basis of an opposition filed by the owner of the earlier trademark. The owner of the trademark must therefore take it upon themselves to eliminate from the market any trademarks that may infringe on their brand. To this end, it is necessary to track (monitor) trademark databases and file oppositions to the registration of new identical or similar marks.

A right holder who does not monitor their trademark should be aware of the risk that a third party may register an identical or similar trademark and benefit from its reputation. Tolerating such unlawful actions by third parties may lead to a situation where the same trademark is used by several businesses. This situation negatively affects the value of the brand and its distinctive character (so-called trademark dilution).

Our monitoring service includes:1. a monthly report on potentially conflicting trademarks filed for registration in a given period,2. monitoring of trademark databases is performed using internationally recognised modern and regularly updated IT databases,3. a recommendation to file an opposition, together with an assessment of the chances of success and any procedural difficulties (procedural risk),4. in the event of a positive decision, we file an opposition on your behalf against the trademark application (service provided for a separate fee).