To quote the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), “A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol or design, or a combination of words, phrases, symbols or designs, that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others.”

Quite a number of famous companies own trademarks that are easily discernible. These businesses have spent a significant amount over the years on countless branding exercises to ensure that their trademarks are readily connected with whatever services or products they provide or manufacture. After all that effort and money spent, many organizations are not too thrilled when they realize that their trademarks are being replicated and used to gain profit by others without remorse.

When a company discovers that its trademark is being illegally used by others, it would generally contact its intellectual property lawyers or trademark infringement lawyers to identify the next course to take. The trademark infringement lawyers would initially send a trademark infringement letter to the accused. If that fails to arrest the infringement then a trademark infringement lawsuit would be filed. If the trademark infringement lawsuit is a success, then the plaintiff could expect remedies to be awarded aside from the cessation of infringement.

There are generally four methods to invite a trademark infringement lawsuit. First and foremost, a mark could be wantonly infringed. This usually involves pirated products which are printed and packed exactly like the originals.

Next, some violators are slightly more creative and could make alterations to the mark with the intention to confuse the public and most likely avert a trademark infringement lawsuit.

Some violators could end up diluting your mark by relating it with other products. For instance, Ferrari is related to speed. A cleaning company may come along and use the mark to imply fast cleaning service.

Lastly, with the absence of any bad intent, a business may use a mark in such a way that it sounds or appears almost the same as the original. This could be due to a lack of research and generally affects tag lines and domain names. Even though there was no malice involved does not mean their actions are not foul of the law. Such offenders still risk a trademark infringement lawsuit.

There are other types of intellectual property infringements other than trademark infringements. Some of the most common are copyright and patent infringements. Therefore it would not be surprising to read news on trademark infringement lawsuit and patent infringement letter everyday.

Intellectual property owners should always appoint specialist lawyers to handle specific cases. For instance, a copyright attorney should be hired to handle copyright infringement cases.