A belated thanks to Candice Kim and Professor Leah Chan Grinvald for sharing their insights and perspectives in our recent webinar on trademark bullying.
One topic we discussed is Backcountry.com’s recent back-down to backlash over its trademark enforcement activities concerning the Backcountry mark.
The example is a harsh reminder to trademark counsel of the worst case scenario when a trademark enforcement campaign comes under fierce public attack.
In response to the boycott and backlash, Backcountry.com not only issued a public apology, it admitted to fumbling how it pursued trademark claims, it admitted to making a mistake and to misjudging the impact of its actions.
Backcountry.com even made a public promise to make amends with those adversely impacted by its actions, and it has taken steps to rebuild public trust.
Last but not least, especially for all the trademark types in the crowd, news reports in November were that Backcountry.com had fired its trademark counsel.
Last week Backcountry.com revoked the power of attorney for its prior trademark counsel and appointed new USPTO counsel, doing the same at the TTAB too.
Not knowing the facts of how or where things may have gone wrong with prior counsel, it will be interesting to see what enforcement will occur going forward.
Back to the webinar, we also focused attention on strategies and tactics brand owners can employ to develop intelligent trademark enforcement campaigns.
One slide that webinar attendees really liked from our backpack is this one:
It visually illustrates how a brand owner might consider analyzing watch reports.
Obviously a precursor to its development would be a trademark strength analysis.
Keep in mind, this particular graphic is only an illustration; the perfectly spaced concentric circles should not be interpreted as trademark lines, as we know trademark lines are more subjective than measurable real estate property lines.
The final graphic for a brand would reflect not only an intelligent and defensible trademark enforcement strategy, but attempts to balance any PR concerns too.
Last week I had the fortune of spending the week at the Shot Show in Las Vegas, capturing this brand collage of exhibitors for an event at a restaurant in my hotel:
Interestingly, Kryptek has a Battlefield to Backcountry registration due for USPTO maintenance in days, and surprisingly, it was never opposed by Backcountry.com.
With all binoculars on Backcountry.com’s promise that “[w]e only want what’s best for the whole community and we want every person and business in it to thrive” time will tell what tools may remain in new trademark counsel’s backpack.