A trademark registration is meant to be valid indefinitely; however this validity has to be maintained through proper use of the trademark.
How can the exclusive rights to a trademark be lost? We will discuss the three most common ways in which trademark rights are lost:
- Abandonment
You lose them if you intentionally ‘abandon’ your trademark – ceasing to use it without any intention to use it again.
- Naked licensing
This term refers to the practice of licensing your trademark to other parties without controlling the nature and quality of the licensee’s products or services that they are selling. If the nature and quality of those products are inconsistent with the standards that your trademark is supposed to represent, you would be at the risk of losing your rights to this trademark.
- Genericide
Another way of losing trademark rights is through genericide – as has happened to cellophane, thermos, aspirin and the elevator. Many are surprised to know that these terms started off as trademarks, only to become common nouns in the English language!
How does genericide happen? A trademark will gradually deteriorate into a common term if the way it is used by the general public is not controlled.
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