monitoring with aplomb

IP professionals know the importance of watching, but as the number of trade mark applications increases practitioners can find themselves inundated with watch notices. By taking advantage of the intelligent watching service of COLMAN+SMART it is possible to make your trade mark monitoring so much more manageable yet more comprehensive.

Client options include: 

• Worldwide, EU, regional and individual country watches

• Dedicated trade mark watching for Chinese and Japanese language marks

• We can take out any applications filed in a client's name; we do this by default if the application has been handled by us, unless instructed otherwise

• The "double up" where we may watch a very important mark with two watch providers as an added safety net; should the same mark be picked up by both providers, you would only get the one watch notice to avoid duplication 

• If any of your agents provide complimentary watches we can request they direct these to our attention 

• English translations of specification of goods/services provided by default

• We can perform a quick Internet search for word marks to find any easily detectable use of the cited mark; or for marks filed in respect of "pharmaceutical preparations" we can run a check of IMS data 

• Let us know if any items of goods or services are not of concern and we will avoid reporting these to you. For example, you are a computer company and unconcerned about marks filed only in respect of "contact lenses" in Class 9 

• We can set it up for extremely critical marks in important jurisdictions so that we can instruct outside counsel (of your choosing) to file opposition or obtain an extension of time if you do not let us know five days before the opposition deadlines expires 

• US State Registers 

• US Common Law watch 

• Domain names 

• Company names incorporated in England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland 

• UK Design monitoring 

• Web monitoring 
   
• Red Alert - to let you know when a previously unpublished application gets advertised in the CTM Bulletin or UK Trade Marks Journal
   

We do not watch for trade marks in-house ourselves, but we are able to add value to the way you watch trade marks.

We look through trade marks and avoid reporting the clearly dissimilar marks a computer cannot filter out. In other words, we lessen the amount of "junk" watch notices you receive.

US State registers or a Common Law watch can also be set up to help quickly locate potential trade mark infringement so that proceedings, if appropriate, can be started without delay and possible acquiescence.

Domain names can also be watched so cybersquatters can be stopped quickly in their tracks.

Company names recently incorporated in England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland can also be checked. Opportunistic company names can be objected to by filing a request with The Company Names Tribunal.

Furthermore, we can also set up a web monitoring service which scans for unauthorised use of trade marks on the Internet.

Sometimes you may come across an unpublished application that causes you concern. To give you the peace of mind that you will get notified when the opposition period begins, sign up to our Red Alert service. This is available for Community Trade Marks and United Kingdom applications.

Our watching support is highly flexible and features can be turned "on" and "off" as a client sees fit and we can set up special criteria for marks of utmost importance and/or for jurisdictions of utmost importance.

Please contact us should you need any support with your trade mark watching.