We’ve written quite a bit over the last three years about the important topic of trademark enforcement. As you may have gathered from past writings, I’m one who believes the academic community’s concentration on the supposed evil of trademark demand letters is overblown.
And, as you may recall, I’m not a fan of simply ignoring them, even when they are objectively baseless, because it sends exactly the wrong message back to the sender.
What I am greatly in favor of is the development of a strategic framework for responding to trademark enforcement cease and desist letters. Recognizing that trademark disputes are highly fact intensive where no two are just the same, here is a very general skeleton outline that I have found helpful in preparing responses over the years:
- Determine the Recipient’s Goals & Objectives
- Scrutinize the Asserted Claims & Demands
- Size Up the Adversary, Their Counsel & Likely Goals
- Identify Options & Recommended Course of Action
- The Mechanics and Executing the Approved Strategy
To the extent you’d like to see more meat on these large bones, consider tuning into Strafford’s upcoming program on Trademark Enforcment, where I’ll be speaking on strategies for responding to trademark cease and desist letters. The first three comments to this blog post will enjoy free attendance at tomorrow’s webinar.
If you aren’t quick enough on the draw or you’re are unable to attend, fear not, my plan is to post a series that fleshes out each of these approaches in the above outline, one by one.