Intellectual Property Services

Our significant experience representing high profile brands provides an in-depth knowledge base about what it takes for a brand to both be markable and protectable as a trademark. We take an in-depth approach to helping our clients develop a protectable and unique brand identity. 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 trademark application process. Having a sound brand identity and strategy prior to filing the trademark can significantly strengthen the likelihood that a trademark is accepted for filing by the trademark office. All too often clients present us with ideas that are unique from a marketing perspective but run afoul of trademark law. In addition to increasing the likelihood of success, we believe it is important to keep the brand strategy at the forefront so that our clients’ trademark portfolios accurately reflect the brand they have developed or seek to develop in the future.

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. We use plain language searches combined with complex proprietary search algorithms to complete your trademark clearance search. While many companies outsource their searches to companies that offer these services, we are routinely amazed at how often conflicting marks are missed by these search companies. All our searches are conducted in house by our experienced team that is responsible for identifying any hurdles or roadblocks to registration so that our clients have a clear idea of the road to registration that lies ahead. 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 and the USPTO rules has led us to develop various strategies to allow your trademark application to proceed even in cases of potentially roadblocks to registration.

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. At Helbraun Levey, our attorneys have significant experience in crafting applications in order to give our clients the broadest protection of their trademark. There are many things to consider when ensuring that you are steaking out a claim for your brand that you can not only get protection on but also keep the well-deserved protection. Our philosophy is to take a realistic approach to your business and ensure that you can monetize your brand while still protecting the rights that you have been granted without overstepping your trademark protection and exposing your mark to cancellation or abandonment claims. 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.

Although we take every effort to ensure that your application will proceed without challenge before the Trademark Office, unfortunately, this is not always the case. In some instances, the trademark examiners at the Trademark Office 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. Our experience indicates that while these denials are part of the process, the reality is that this becomes a critical negotiation with the Trademark Office to obtain a trademark registration in a crowded field. 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 trademark office. Helbraun Levey’s trademark lawyers are experienced in effectively advocating on behalf of our clients under these circumstances by skillfully relying on case precedent or previous rulings by courts and prior decisions issued by the Trademark Office to obtain the best result possible.

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 Trademark 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, your 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 hard-won 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.

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.

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 and trademark advisors to review of the current state of the intellectual property of the subject brand. Helbraun Levey’s Trademark Group will review the necessary paperwork relating to a particular trademark portfolio and other 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 the company’s trademarks.

Helbraun Levey’s Trademark Group is equipped not only to handle the registration, prosecution and defense of your mark with the Trademark Office, 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 trademark attorneys are trained to litigate as well so that you do not have to look elsewhere for an experienced litigator to handle your trademark or copyright infringement litigation claims. This allows us to go after any infringers with the full force of a litigation department as well as other tactics to protect your brand at the highest level in order to effectively and efficiently receive the best result for our clients.