Why Choose Holland & Hart for Trademark Work?

Why Hire Us for Trademark Work in the U.S. If You Are Foreign Counsel?

We understand you have a choice when selecting trademark counsel. This choice can have a direct impact on the ultimate value of your intellectual property portfolio. There can be many different objectives that might drive the need for trademark protection.

Our Depth Allows Us to Focus. Holland & Hart has an extensive team of professionals that focus their entire practices in the trademark field. This depth allows each professional to drill deeper and gain experience in specific aspects of trademark law, such as foreign protection, protection and enforcement on the Internet, anti-counterfeiting, administrative practice (both contentious and non-contentious) within the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the Madrid Protocol, and domain name protection.

We Are Best When Budgets Exist. Before applying this experience, we work first to understand our clients' objectives and familiarize ourselves with the relevant industry so we can partner with our clients to prioritize competing objectives to maximize the equity potential of each trademark portfolio. Our value driven approach to trademark counseling and enforcement is most evident and appreciable when we are pressed by tight budgetary constraints. Given an unlimited budget, obtaining broad trademark protection does not require exceptional creativity or experience. By contrast, Holland & Hart's depth of focus and practical approach shines most brightly in today's environment of cost cutting and tight budgets.

One Size Does Not Fit All. We understand that the value of any intellectual property portfolio stems not from the number of properties in the portfolio, but rather in the competitive advantage that such a portfolio provides to a company in the marketplace. Our approach to trademark protection and enforcement is to first get to know our clients and understand their particular goals and industry. With this information, we next work together to develop a cost effective plan to register and protect our clients' names and brands. This typically includes the creation of trademark use guidelines and an enforcement strategy designed to specifically yield value within the client's unique business parameters.

A well conceived and executed registration strategy, whether confined to the United States or extending world wide, is essential to establishing a scope of trademark rights that is both relevant to the client and that maximizes the available equity potential of a given brand. One size does not fit all. A registration strategy might be excessive for one circumstance and anemic for another. We consider a number of factors, such as the nature of the business, the goods or services involved, the plans for future geographic expansion or diversification of product or service offerings, the business stage of the company (start-up to mature public company), the long term financial strategies of the trademark owner, and the competitive relationship of the trademark owner with others.

Our trademark attorneys commonly partner with clients to:

Develop a trademark registration portfolio limited to the United States or to North America.

Review domain name policies and coordinate them with the trademark and marketing initiatives of our clients.

Develop enforcement parameters and protection plans to cost-effectively maintain (and create) equity in key brands (depending on use, this may include monitoring and enforcement programs targeted toward website use and use at Internet auction sites).

Develop multi-staged foreign registration strategies after identifying existing and future consumer markets, vendor sources, pirate havens, and important trans-shipment countries for a given array of goods or services. These strategies often involve prioritizing more and less important foreign countries so that registration costs can be staggered over time.

Consider alternative means for obtaining foreign trademark protection. Since 1996, the harmonization of foreign trademark laws in many countries of the world has opened up unique cost savings opportunities. For example, a single filing in the European Union's Office of Harmonization of the Internal Market can result in trademark rights across all 27 EU countries. Similarly, it is now possible to file for protection in more than 60 countries by a single filing with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Each of these systems has its unique benefits and pitfalls. We are adept at negotiating these new waters to find the most efficient way to maximize our clients' trademark rights.

The Bottom Line

We believe our experience and depth of focusin trademark searching, use, registration and enforcement allows us to develop and execute customized plans to protect, and increase the value of, your company's key assets-its brands.