Trademark infringement is the unauthorized use of trademarks which comes as a violation of the registered owner’s exclusive rights over the mark or product. This also applies to unauthorized marks which bear obviously similar features to a registered mark. When trademark infringement happens, you can definitely expect legal action to be taken since unsanctioned use of the products and services can be detrimental to the business.
Any registered trademark owner who finds his mark being infringed can file a case against the perpetrator. When an individual or business files for legal action, they must be able to provide evidence that the alleged perpetrator is using a mark very similar to their own. This is because when it comes to infringement, the main argument, the infringer’s mark causes confusion and misleads consumers. If consumers get misled into buying certain products or services from an unauthorized source, it can have significant damages to the business with the originally registered mark.
Some of the elements that can prove the misleading of consumers are:
In terms of legal action, a registered trademark is obviously better protected by the law than an unregistered trademark. Simply put, the term trademark infringement only applies to violations on registered marks. That means if your trademark is unregistered, you’ll have a hard time establishing your ownership over it in court.
Even if your trademark is unregistered, it does not mean that you can’t sue others if they use it illegally. An owner can propose misrepresentation or passing off which basically means making a false representation that can mislead the public into believing that a product or service is that of another’s.