Intellectual Property Services
Helbraun Levey’s Intellectual Property Group assists clients in developing and implementing brand protection strategies. Our approach is practical and proactive so that we can assist our clients to manage and mitigate risk before problems arise. Our attorneys are well-versed and experienced in establishing, protecting and defending intellectual property rights across the country. Our clients come to us with the most innovative concepts.
Development of Brand Identity and Strategy
Our significant experience representing high profile brands provides an in-depth knowledge base about what it takes for a brand to be successful. We take an in-depth approach to helping our clients develop a unique brand identity through our Intellectual Property services. While we don’t handle the creative development, we counsel our clients prior to the application process to evaluate the big picture with respect to developing a brand strategy and guide the copyright or trademark application process. Having a sound strategy prior to filing your copyright or trademark can significantly strengthen the likelihood that your IP is successfully protected. All too often clients present us with ideas that are unique from a marketing perspective but run legal principals.
Conducting Trademark Clearance Searches
The foundation to a strong trademark application is a comprehensive trademark clearance search. Our experienced team searches to discover brands, existing trademarks and pending trademark applications to help you understand the likelihood of success for your trademark application. Our goal is always to ensure the trademark application process is as swift and painless as possible. During the search process if we discover any potential roadblocks or hurdles, we will discuss them with you prior to the filing of the trademark application. Our team’s knowledge and experience with trademark clearance searches has led us to develop various strategies to allow your trademark application to proceed even in cases of potentially roadblocks to registration.
Drafting and Filing Trademark Applications
There are many ways to approach a trademark application. The trademark attorneys at Helbraun Levey take a bespoke and personalized approach to crafting a compete and well-tailored trademark application for each client. We help our clients achieve the maximum trademark protection through registration with careful and articulate application drafting that reflects your individual business operations and plans for the future.
Trademark Prosecution and Defense
Although we take every effort to ensure that your application will proceed without challenge before the USPTO, unfortunately, this is not always the case. In some instances, the trademark examiners at the USPTO may provide an initial denial of the trademark. This denial often feels like the end of the line for many trademark applicants. Fortunately, we have plenty of experience responding to these denials. During this process, we make strategic arguments to persuade the examining attorney that registration should be granted based on specific grounds and in response to the objections raised by the USPTO. Helbraun Levey’s trademark lawyers are experienced in effectively advocating on behalf of our clients under these circumstances by skillfully relying on case precedent to obtain the best result possible.
Maintaining and Policing Trademark Portfolios
Whether you have an existing trademark or one was just filed on your behalf there is additional work that must be done to protect the value of your brand. We have a rigorous process for ensuring that all of your trademark maintenance is completed on time. These maintenance documents are critical in order to prove active use of the trademark and avoid cancellation of the trademark. Many trademarks are hard fought and then filed in the back of the business owner’s mind. Leave the details to Helbraun Levey’s Intellectual Property Group. We are well-versed in tracking these deadlines and filing the appropriate documentation with the USPTO to ensure that you are able to use your mark for as long as you are actively using your brand in commerce. Moreover, once your trademark has received registration status, it is up to the owner(s) of the mark to police the trademark in order to head-off any potential infringers. If someone is infringing and you do not vigorously pursue them, the value of your brand and trademark can be diminished. Our experience with infringement matters has allowed us to develop a strong approach to protecting your trademark registration. We provide a comprehensive maintenance and policing strategy that includes various methods of searching and reporting that allows our clients to rest easy knowing that our trademark attorneys are watching their trademark and alerting of any questionable unauthorized use.
Drafting and Negotiating Trademark Licenses, Assignments, Co-Existence and Other Agreements
One of the most effective ways to create value with your trademark is to license your brand to others. This is a great way to leverage your brand identity and grow your consumer base. These opportunities are not without risk. We have been through this process with our clients numerous times. Our clients are constantly collaborating, entering into partnerships and starting new ventures requiring drafting and negotiation of trademark license agreements, assignment agreements, co-existence agreement and other creative uses of their trademarks. We provide effective and efficient drafting and negotiation services to achieve our clients’ goals without holding up (or worse) killing the deal. We know the value your brand stands to gain by partnering and we stand ready to help you enable the growth of your mark without restricting your creativity.
Undertaking of Due Diligence Projects and Trademark Audits
One of the most valuable assets of a company is its intellectual property, and most often its trademarks. If you are evaluating a company for sale or purchase, one of the first steps is understanding the scope of the existing trademarks, their current registration status with the Trademark Office, use in commerce and the current authorized licensees. We assist with numerous acquisitions of businesses by serving as intellectual property advisors to review the current state of the intellectual property of the subject brand. Helbraun Levey’s Intellectual Property Group will review the subject intellectual property in order to advise our clients in relation to potential sales, in preparation for a collaboration or for our clients’ internal records. We also perform trademark audits for companies that are unsure whether they are using their trademarks correctly in order to avoid claims of cancellation or abandonment of their trademarks.
Trademark Infringement Litigation in State and Federal Courts
Helbraun Levey’s Trademark Group is equipped not only to handle the registration, prosecution and defense of your mark with the USPTO, but also in Court. Unfortunately, sometimes our clients find their brands threatened by competing companies or products/services. The strongest way to respond to a threat by a competing company is to engage in litigation. Fortunately, our intellectual property attorneys are trained to litigate complex trademark or copyright infringement litigation claims. This allows us to go after any infringers to protect your brand at the highest level in order to effectively and efficiently receive the best result for our clients.
