what to do if someone steals your logo online

Imagine opening your email in the morning to find two messages—one from a designer in Denmark and another from South Africa—and both friends have inadvertently similar warnings for you: They’ve each just seen your logo—or one that’s unmistakably similar to yours.

Whether an unauthorized reproduction of your brand’s identity is spotted in two continents on one day, or a child from a village in Kenya is wearing your local balloon company’s logo embroidered on his shorts, you should understand the importance of protecting your business or product name with a trademark.

You've likely invested time and money to generate an identity for your brand and to trademark it, but the reality is, no one is going to protect it for you. You are required to police the use of your trademark and that means being proactive and on the lookout for rip-offs of your logo online.

This might sound like an impossible task so we’re going to provide you with a few tips to help you protect your brand in a digital world.

Finding Infringing Trademarks Online

Graphic designer Jeff Fisher of LogoMotives is a model of vigilance. And, he’s very open about publicly sharing appropriations of his design work in a gallery he dubs “Rip-offs and Unauthorized Usage.” Continually updated, the Facebook album contains some 150 photos and stories. The detailed examples illustrate his process to protect his designs and clients and are an invaluable resource where others can learn how to protect their brand.

So, how does Fisher discover infringing content on the web?

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Subscribe to Neighborhood Notes' small business education center, Local U, to read the rest of this article, and once you're a member, you can read up on the rest of NN's trademark resources.

how to trademark + protect your business name or ideas

You’ve officially decided to follow your dream.

Whether you’re ready to reveal the product you’ve been meticulously developing in your workshop or studio to the world, or you’re ambitiously opening your own restaurant, bar, bakery or boutique, you should step back a moment and consider the name of your product, business or service from a legal perspective—you’ll thank yourself later.

There is definitely a cost to choosing the wrong business name, which is exactly what two Portland bar owners have become acutely aware of since opening their northwest kitchen and lounge almost two years ago. The lesson Sepal Meacham and Josh Johnson (of the recently renamed Paymaster Lounge) would like you to take away from their experience is that you can easily save yourself undue stress, as well as wasted time, money and energy, if you take basic trademark law into consideration when selecting your business’ name.

Even if you’ve had the perfect name in mind for years, you’d be wise to pay attention to the following advice before you publicly brand yourself under that moniker. And if you don’t necessarily have that name picked out, pay attention so you can do it right the first time.

Determine If Your Product Is Eligible For a Trademark

But first, what is a trademark?

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Subscribe to Neighborhood Notes' small business education center, Local U, to read the rest of this article as well as two more about frequently asked trademark questions on international registration and how long it takes to receive a trademark.