Consequences of Trademark Infringement

Hello and welcome!

It's Tamsen Horton from PBK the gathering place for preneurs worldwide. Those of us unlocking our superpowers and living our vacationing life using Kajabi. Lives and businesses we don't need to escape from. Giving us health, wealth, and family freedom.

And this is your PBK power-up for Sunday, June 2, 2019. 

What's the #1 action you take before building or creating on Kajabi?

For me, it always starts at the very beginning and that is with what am I going to call this? What brand is it going to live under? Do I have the domain? And all of those questions share one thing in common - trademark laws.

So I thought it appropriate to kick off a whole week devoted to helping you secure what you're building and creating with Kajabi - let's talk branding and trademarks.

What really happens if you commit trademark infringement?

Best case - you rip out every single instance of the brand you infringed on and start over. All that time, money, and energy down the drain but you don't get sued.

Worst case - you rip out every single instance of the brand you infringed on and start over. All that time, money, and energy down the drain and you get sued, have to hire a lawyer and spend the next 2-3 years trying to recover and deal with the stress.

This isn't something you take lightly.

What is trademark infringement?
Trademark infringement is the unauthorized use or reproduction of a trademark, such as a logo or brand symbol but can also be sounds, colors and or smells. You definitely can't open a jewelry store and put your jewelry in a Tiffany blue box and not get in trouble. And you can't start a computer company and have the opening sound match the one on my Macbook.

Trademark infringement violations are very serious and are often involve aspects of deceptive trade practices.

Trademark infringement can result in the following legal consequences:

1. Pay the brand owner a lot of money. 
2. Court order requiring you to stop producing your products or services with the protected name. 
3. Getting all your product taken away. 

But what if my mark and the other one aren't exactly the same? What if they're just similar?

Guess what ... Trademark infringement can also involve the use of a trademark that looks very similar to an officially registered one. This is especially true where the “copycat” trademark is used with the intent to deceive consumers into thinking that it is authentic - something it isn't.

When this happens the main piece of proof is whether there is a high “likelihood of confusion” that purchaser would believe that the products were made by the trademark owner.

Here are several factors can be used to determine whether trademark infringement exists:

1. How close the goods or products are in nature
2. The “strength of the mark” or how visible it is
3. How similar the marks are in appearance
4. The types of marketing and distribution channels used
5. The degree of care that a normal consumer would exercise in selecting the item
6. Your intentions in selecting the trademark
7. Evidence that the consumer was actually confused over the trademark

So for example, if a “copycat item” is distributed using the same marketing channels as the original brand, it is more likely that a court would conclude that trademark infringement occurred. 

That's it for today's power-up. If you'd like access to the S4 Branding resources then click on Unlock Your Superpowers and join the PBK Visitors' Lounge - a free experience that dives into various aspects of being a preneur who is crazy smart and choosing to build your health, wealth, and family freedom with Kajabi.

Have a burning question for me that you'd like answered click Ask Tamsen. 

Have a great day and I'll see you tomorrow with a brand new PBK power-up.