IP monitoring

The “competition never sleeps” rule is most pressing in this field, as competitors always look out for new market stakeholders and new projects - either new products, services, online platforms or apps emerging in the market.

Disputes over trademarks, symbols, logotypes and domain names occur increasingly frequently in this area of business. Where a company loses a right to a symbol/label it often loses a whole market segment: for an online project, losing a domain name in practice means going out of business; for an online project this would mean a need for re-branding and loss of awareness among clients. Moreover, legislation prescribes large penalties for acts of unfair competition, in particular for unlawful use of other’s trademark (trade name) or use of labels causing blending with competitor’s trademark in consumers.

In order to minimise such risks, assess prospective conflicts in entering a market, reduce costs on litigating with competitors with respect to unfair competition or infringement of rights to trade names and trademarks (both registered and unregistered), we offer the following types of legal assistance:

IP monitoring and risk analysis

Analysis of current competition environment in various jurisdictions (European Union countries, Great Britain, USA, Singapore, Canada, Japan, RF, Ukraine), detection of similar symbols/labels used by competitors, risks of violation of competitors’ IP rights.
In-depth analysis of detected risks with respect to detected competitors’ similar symbols/labels, their IP rights, assessment of the risk of adjudgment on trademark’s/symbol’s similarity/blending or unfair competition.
Providing recommendations on minimising risks with respect to disputes involving competitors’ IP rights, for the purpose of safely entering a new market and registering own trademark / domain name.

Representing client’s interests in case of detection of any infringement of IP rights by your competitor

Drawing up cease and desist letters with respect to infringement of IP rights, recovery of damages, compensation; responses to competitors’ claims; maintaining negotiations during the pre-trial stage; negotiating with competitors over pre-trial dispute settlement.
Representation during examination of disputes in Belarusian and/or foreign arbitration institutions, in particular in WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center. Representation of interests in court is carried out by independent lawyers.
Monitoring judicial proceedings in national courts of European Union countries, Great Britain, USA, Russian Federation, and in the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO).

We have many years’ experience of representing our clients in disputes involving trademarks and domain names, protection of interests under the UDRP procedure in the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center. Most cases have been successfully resolved by us already in the pre-trial stage.

We maintain close and active relations with partners in many foreign jurisdictions, which allows us to represent clients immediately in situ, in particular in foreign courts.

*Representation of interests in court is carried out by independent attorneys.