How can trademark infringement be monitored?

Trademark infringement can come in many forms. For infringement on social media or Amazon, there are solutions that search the web and help brand owners uncover the violation.

Another form of trademark infringement comes from other marks. When a new trademark application is filed, it can knowingly or unknowingly infringe on an existing intellectual property. The trademark registration process, therefore, includes a so-called opposition window during which the owners of previously registered trademarks can come forward and challenge the new application.

There are multiple ways a trademark owner can learn about this type of potential infringement:

1. Some IP offices notify the owner if the examiner believes to have come across a confusingly similar mark.
2. The owner can search in the IP office's database for similar marks.
3. The owner can sign up for a trademark monitoring service that periodically sends reports with all identical and similar marks filed in their country of interest.