saas, trademark, b2bBriefly:
I’m concerned about:
Registering a trademark worldwide is a pain - especially since the places most likely to troll generally have the worst IP law. I guess the security/protection of IP should be proportional to its probability and consequences of theft - so in my case, how much should I be worrying?
Edit: Thanks for the answers. Like much professional services advice and insurance, I’m being told spend some money on it so that I sleep better at night. My purpose is not obtain emotional comfort, but to assess if trademarking actually represents value for money in a situation where counterfeiting is almost impossible. I’m trying to better understand the risk - what are some of the bad things that could happen that I have overlooked and how likely are they? For example, could someone register and squat on the trademark in a “first to file” jurisdiction like China, and then demand that I not use it for business within that jurisdiction in the hope of extorting a settlement?
Since we know nothing about your business we can't evaluate the risks for you, but trademark trolling is fairly rare.
Countries that are part of the Madrid system are quite inexpensive for registering trademarks. You can find a fee calculator here: http://www.wipo.int/madrid/en/fees/calculator.jsp
Some notable countries that are not part of the Madrid System are Canada and Brazil. These will be about 10x more expensive.
I would figure out a budget for trademarks, list countries in order of priority (based on the price for that country and on how many customers that you have in the country) and then register in as many companies as possible to stay within your budget.
Since this is an SAAS business, and you are concerned about “confusion and false association” you should focus on your online presence, I would secure as many domain roots as I can, which will assist in your protection. Though some countries have restrictions on domain ownership by nationals, like Austria.
Also, I would probably perform trademarking in countries/territories that will enforce your trademark if it is relatively inexpensive.
It may not matter, but it will also add value to your brand as having slightly more legal protection on some things; in the same way having various forms of IP protection on your IP gives your company value.
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