Office actions

Before registration, every trademark application gets assessed by an intellectual property office. During this process, an examiner might discover a problem with your application, which they flag by issuing an office action.

An office action temporarily prevents your mark from registration and contains the reasons for the dismissal, along with suggested actions the applicant can take to resolve the situation. If you're having issues translating the legal jargon in an office action you received, we put together a list of answers to the most common questions.

Frequently asked questions

Microsoft versus MikeRoweSoft

This trademark infringement case between Microsoft and MikeRoweSoft represents one of the classic legal disputes in the field of intellectual property law. In case you are not already familiar with it, this article summarises the key issues and outlines lessons for brand protection for software companies in particular.

Lindt secured another win for its chocolate bunny trademark in the EU

The Federal Supreme Court ruled that the gold-coloured foil-wrapped chocolate bunny from Lindt & Sprüngli can claim trademark protection against the competing product from Lidl. Lidl is no longer allowed to sell its rabbit because of the risk of confusion and must destroy existing copies of the product.

12 good reasons for software companies to register a trademark

There is a myriad of reasons why trademark registration is of a crucial importance for software companies. This article presents a concise summary of 12 key reasons why every developer of software solutions should think about registering for a trademark.