Are you making these trademark mistakes with your medical products?

Many companies know that the name of their medical product business and the products themselves are the center and heart of the company. When a consumer or physician knows your company and product by name, it allows them to specifically request your business and your products to be used in any given situation. But companies must also remember that it is critical to protect your business name and product names with a federal trademark registration. You would not want to build your house on a shaky foundation, right? It’s the same for your business and product name. If you build a brand around a name that cannot qualify for federal trademark registration, either because another company is already using it or the name is not unique enough to garner trademark protection—you could be putting your entire business at risk.

Medical Product Outsourcing (MPO) recently published the article, Top 3 Trademark Mistakes Medical Product Manufacturers Make, which details the three major mistakes some medical companies are making when trademarking their products. Below are three of the most common mistakes that medical technology companies could make in the trademark process and how to avoid them. To see if you are making the three major trademark mistakes, keep reading!

1. Moving forward with a name based on your own trademark search: When you begin to develop your medical product brand and brainstorm product names, it is critical that you keep the name’s trademark availability in mind. Searching on the United Stated Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) website would be a good start, and will help remove names that are currently registered. However, after researching the USPTO website, you must look into other avenues as well. You could put your business and brand at risk if you make decisions based on the results of a DIY trademark search.
2. Ignoring an office action: In some situations the USPTO will send out an “Office Action Notice???, which may be a request for more information or clarification on your application, but in some circumstances they may even deny your application. Once the “Office Action Notice??? is issued, you have six months to respond to the notice. It is your company’s responsibility to respond prior to the deadline because the USPTO does not send out reminders. If you do not respond within the six months, your application is then considered abandoned, and you will have to start over from the beginning.
3. Failing to maintain and renew your trademark: After your company registers for a trademark for your product name, and is successful, you must continue using it in business or you may lose the right to the name.

To read the full article, click here.