​Definitions of the word "brand" may vary based on the background in which it's used, but the most generic and most common definition is rather simple: a characteristic that serves to identify a particular product. The brand, as it appears on products and / or services, can take a number of different forms, and might include a “word mark” for the mere textual representation of the brand name, a “device mark” - in color as well as in black and white - to capture the brand symbol, or a combination of both elements. Normally, in Trademark Management Systems, these different representations are handled in separate trademark families - one trademark family for each unique representation of the mark. From an administrative point of view, this is the preferred way of working, since it has some practical advantages: the families remain smaller, which makes the handling of trademark groups during oppositions and litigation activities more straightforward. Furthermore, new trademark families can easily be created to keep up with new graphical representations of a mark, preventing mixtures of old and new registrations, and therefore making reporting on the progress of filing processes that much simpler.

 "A house of brands is like a family, each needs a role and a relationship to others".

- Jeffrey Sinclair, Brand Strategist

Using the right IP management software can help companies track and keep up to date on their trademark matters. However, given that a brand is often built up from different trademark families, and that case titles are not a practical way to provide hierarchical information about a brand portfolio, how can you create a brand-based set up on your IP software platform?

Trademarks is one of the main IP types on the Ipendo Platform™, alongside patents, designs and domain names. Accordingly, the Platform has a standard set up of trademark-related data fields as well as a more customized approach allowing configuration possibilities to suit the specific needs of the customer. As part of this, the Ipendo Platform™ also provides two very practical solutions to address the broader brand issue; namely, the tree view and categorizations.

The hierarchical structure of the brand portfolio is subject to constant change, with sub-brands being added or taken away, and both solutions can support this. The tree view in the Ipendo Platform™ creates a clear graphical view over brands and sub-brands, with the capability to show or hide brands or sub-brands. Since this solution allows the user to restrict access to other parts of the Ipendo Platform™, it is well suited to situations where various people within an organization need to work with the brand portfolio, but should not have access to other fields.

The second solution is the use of categorizations in the Ipendo Platform™, which offers quick and easy searching and improved reporting functionality. The trademark portfolio report for example, uses the categorization "brand" to build up graphical representations of how brands and trademark registrations are related to each other.

 Of course, there are other ways in which trademark cases can be related to other information. For example, domain names, oppositions and litigations are all closely related to the brand or trademark family; and any changes to these cases and / or matters can have a great impact on current rights. In the December 2011 release of the Ipendo Platform™, a report has been made available that visualizes these changes.

 The new Milestone Report includes information from cases and matters that are added to cases or trademark families through the portfolio relations, allowing for clear status reporting on your trademark portfolio. Since this report includes only those cases or matters for which changes occurred during the last period, it offers an extremely practical tool for reporting on large IP-portfolios.

"A global brand-building strategy is, in reality, a local plan for every market."

- Martin Lindström, Author, Clicks, Bricks & Brands

Both for single-brand and multi-brand companies, the goal with any sized brand portfolio strategy is to maximize market coverage and minimize brand overlap. Since not all brands are operating in a global environment, it can prove practical to include “Region” as a category. A set up like this will allow a user to create reports in which product, brand and regional categories can be compared. With cost pressures making it difficult for some organizations to support large numbers of products and brands, added information like this can prove particularly helpful when making decisions on their brand and trademark portfolios.

"Like any person, a brand has a physical 'body': [...] the products and/or services it provides."

- Robert Blanchard, former Group Vice President of Procter & Gamble

Representations of branded material – like for example brochures containing photographs of the product with the mark clearly visible, product containers and / or packaging – form an important part of maintaining trademark rights.

These “specimen” as they are also know, are used both for opposition and litigation handling, as well as for proof of use during the application and maintenance processes. In many cases, the collection of evidence is event-driven; only when the need arises in one of the process steps, will data collection start.

This is prevalent in opposition and litigation – and can prove costly, since the progression of the process depends on the availability of data. From a practical point of view, we recommend creating a "specimen" matter per brand, on which material for evidence of use can be stored pro-actively. This allows agents or in-house attorneys to quickly access the information when needed, saving a significant amount of time and leading to greater cost-efficiencies.

By Eric De Jong