What to Do When You are Infringed
Do you want to be Starbucks or Jack Daniel’s?
While it is never too soon to protect your company’s valuable trademark, registration alone is not enough. The owner of a trademark has to stop people from infringing its marks, known as policing the mark.
It is a difficult line to walk. If you don’t police, you could be deemed to have abandoned your mark or have allowed infringing uses to go unchecked. Too much (or inappropriate) policing can make your company look like a bully and generate bad PR.
Tone matters.
Starbucks sent a standard cease and desist letter when its webcrawler found a craft brewery in Cottleville, Missouri (population 3,672) marketing Frappicino stout beer. These letters are stiff and stern—they try to scare potential infringers into quickly changing their product names.
The brewer, however, mockingly responded with a $6 check representing its profits from selling 3 pints, and a witty reply about the bar’s use of “the F word” (i.e., Frappicino) that went viral. Starbucks was roundly ridiculed for being a trademark bully.