What Can You Do if A Company Uses a Near-Copy of Your Trademark?

A trademark is an image or logo that helps consumers immediately identify your company or product. You register your trademark to protect it as your original intellectual property and to help ensure that you can stop someone else from damaging your company’s reputation.

When someone reaches out to you about seeing a cheap knockoff of your product with a very close replica of your trademark on the packaging or you see an online advertisement for a company using what looks like your trademarked logo, you can fight back to stop them.

How Trademark Infringement Can Harm Your Company

Obviously, when someone buys a product from another company instead of yours, you lose out on sales. However, the issue with trademark infringement goes deeper than that. Not only do you potentially lose revenue, but your company’s reputation could also be at risk.

If consumers don’t realize they purchased a knockoff, they might start bad-mouthing your brand or leave a bad review for your company online due to the gap in quality between the other company’s product and yours. Unhappy customers might even file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau against your business instead of the company infringing on your trademark.

Document the Infringement and Prepare for Court

As soon as you become aware of the infringement, you will likely want to notify the other party to cease and desist. Sending them an official letter letting them know that they have violated your trademark rights could possibly get them to stop.

If they persist in misusing your trademark, that letter can help build your case to show an intentional violation of your intellectual property rights. Aggressively fighting back against companies that would steal your intellectual property can help protect your business and its future revenue.