One large mistake that many emerging companies can make is failing to protect its intellectual property in a timely manner. Delay in both obtaining intellectual property rights, as well as delay in enforcing existing rights, could cost a company in both the short- and long-term.

For example, if your company notices that another company is using your trademark (even if that mark is not yet registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office) and you neglect or delay in enforcing your rights, you may lose the right to sue that company to prevent them from profiting off of your trademark. By failing to enforce your rights, you also risk losing legal remedies, such as preliminary and/or permanent injunctions forbidding that company from using your trademark. Without the threat of legal remedies, you may lose significant leverage in attempting to enhance or encourage settlement with the offending company.

If you fail to enforce your rights, you also run the risk that your trademark may be considered abandoned. If this occurs, this may open the door for the offending company, and many other companies, including your direct competitors, to use your trademark in the marketplace. This poses the risk of significantly reducing or completely eliminating any goodwill or value that you have built in the product identified by the trademark at issue.

While this is only a limited example, for this reason, and many others, you should seek the help of an experienced attorney as soon as you become aware that there is a potential misuse of your copyrights, patents, trademarks, rights of publicity, trade secrets, or any other property rights. This will enable you to assess your risk and develop the best strategy possible to handle the issue.

If you need help protecting the value in your business, or have any other issues with which you may need help, contact Waltz, Palmer & Dawson, LLC at (847)253-8800.