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Brand protection is essential for keeping your company’s identity, reputation, and assets safe. By identifying and working with key stakeholders, businesses can develop effective brand protection strategies that are aligned with their overall goals and ensure long-term success.

A robust brand protection strategy hinges on the critical role of well-executed risk assessments. By looking inward at your brand’s strengths and weaknesses with a thorough SWOT analysis, and looking externally at the competitive landscape, you will gain a well-rounded view of what challenges your brand faces to help ensure its enduring success.

When it comes to your company’s most valuable asset – its brand and reputation – a strategic plan of protection must be put into place using the right building blocks. Whether creating a new brand from scratch, rebranding, or building off decades of reputation, these initial five critical considerations will provide you solid footing to begin your brand protection journey.

Editor’s Note: This article by Trademark Attorney Julie Tolek originally appeared on IPWatchdog. Just days after a complaint was filed against restaurant chain Sweetgreen by Chipotle Mexican Grill for trademark infringement, dilution, and deceptive business practices, Sweetgreen has changed the name of its offending product in order to reach possible […]

The Dilworth IP team is growing! We are excited to announce that Julie Tolek, a Trademark Attorney, has joined the company.

“The Dilworth IP team is growing! We are excited to announce that Michael K. Kinney of MKG, LLC has decided to join his practice to Dilworth IP as Partner. Mike will be joined by Robert D. Crawford, also of MKG, as Senior Associate. Together, they bring decades of experience serving their clients in a diversity of intellectual property matters, helping companies meet their IP goals across the innovation business spectrum in industries ranging from semiconductor manufacturing to energy, medical, and defense.”

The conditions for patent eligibility under Section 101, especially for process inventions involving artificial intelligence and machine learning, can be onerous at times. This handy visual guide can help inventors and patent attorneys sort out some of the strategies to get around potential 101 rejections when drafting claims directed to “abstract ideas.”

“For the fourth time in recent years, Michael Dilworth has been recognized by IAM among the top intellectual property professionals worldwide.

The IAM 1000 list of the world’s leading patent professionals is the industry’s foremost directory of the world’s top attorneys and firms working in the intellectual property field.”

Some software and computer inventions can be difficult to describe with words and illustrations alone. This can make it challenging for inventors to disclose inventions to attorneys, and for attorneys to draft strong patents.

In summary, ineffective communication between inventors and attorneys can be a recipe for weak patents and lost inventions. An industry-specific invention disclosure form (IDF) with narrowly tailored sections and precise prompts can organize and focus an inventor’s disclosure, making it easier for the inventor to write and the attorney to understand. Ultimately, such a well-crafted IDF can save time and resources and result in higher quality and quantity of patents from R&D activities.