Trademark monitoring: a strategic reflex to implement
Opposition deadlines, INPI/TMView surveillance, competitor filings: why and how to monitor trademark applications.
When your business begins to grow, protecting your trademark is no longer enough. Monitoring new filings becomes essential to anticipate risks and defend your rights.
When a competitor files a mark too close to yours, failing to react in time can result in a loss of rights. Regular monitoring enables you to identify risky marks as soon as they are published, assess whether a likelihood of confusion exists, and decide whether opposition proceedings are warranted. Monitoring should cover not only identical marks but also similar ones (including name variations) for identical or similar goods and services.
In France and Europe, the opposition window is two to three months from publication. Once it closes, only more costly court proceedings remain. Monitoring ensures this window is not missed. For remedies against similar filings, see the article on responding to a similar trademark filing.
Free tools provide an initial watch: Data INPI for French marks, TMView for European and international marks. TMView allows approximate searches, not limited to identical marks. For the filing process, see the trademark filing guide and the intellectual property services page.
Filing surveillance is a simple, strategic reflex. If you would like to set up a monitoring strategy, book a call.
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I have been supporting software and SaaS companies for over 10 years, helping them structure their business, protect their intellectual property and strengthen their contracts.
