Is someone using your trade mark or hashtag on social media?

What can you do if someone uses your trade mark or hashtag on social media?

More and more of us are using social media. It’s an ideal place for marketers to promote brands, products or services. And, with the growth in influencer marketing, many brand owners are allowing third parties to use their trade marks. With the increasing number of posts and the frequency at which campaigns are being launched, it’s important for marketing departments and agencies to act quickly if they see someone is using their Trade marks on social media.

We’ve put together a handy list of our top tips on how to best prepare to respond or take action:

• Be aware! Our first tip is to closely monitor social media – perform regular checks to see if anyone is using your Trade Mark.
• Look into using a social media watch service to spot anyone using your trade marks online (we can help you with this).
• Make sure you have a registered Trade Mark for your brand – taking action is easier when you can rely on your existing registered rights.
• Talk to your Trade Mark Attorney to discuss a proportionate response. Also be prepared for a potentially negative response from the infringer.
• Have an agreed response plan in place. Set out a plan of action in the event of infringement and decide on what criteria which will trigger specific actions. Will you deal with a small scale, potentially incidental infringement in the same way as you will deal with a larger scale, planned infringement? Your Trade Mark Attorney can help you devise the best response and overall plan for you.

For further information on how we can help your business, please don’t hesitate to contact us.