Search for evidence of use
Case study on a trademark
STARTING SITUATION
An international beverage and spirits group has approached us regarding one of its iconic brands, which is distributed in many countries.
They wished to prove the use of their trademark between 2020 and 2025, in 7 EU countries, in various forms: three-dimensional mark and word mark.
Generally, in this type of situation, Paperz IP must first fully understand the context. We need to obtain details of the protected trademarks, the exact aim of the search, and the geographical areas to focus on.
OUR EXPERTISE
When we are called upon to conduct research aimed at proving the use of a trademark, one of the most important factors is the quality of the documentation we find.
We need evidence with a definite date that proves genuine use, which can be demonstrated by any means, including documents related to the commercialisation and the marketing of a product or service under that trademark (sales catalogs, advertisements, social media…) as well as publications from third parties (in the press, in books, in museums, online…).
In quantitative terms, it is important to gather a minimum amount of evidence in order to demonstrate the genuine nature of the use.
In such cases, we discuss the matter with our clients to gain a clear understanding of their expectations and provide a budget that closely reflects their needs. The same applies to requests for evidence of reputation, where the objective is to gather the widest possible range of evidence. In both situations, before launching the research, we always seek to understand the client’s expectations as precisely as possible, as the scope and objectives can vary significantly from one request to another.
OUR INTERVENTION
Several areas under investigation
For this research, we focused on several areas.
Firstly, documentation from the company itself: press advertisements, online and offline advertising campaigns, digitized sales catalogs, and social media posts.
Secondly, third-party publications: press articles, online publications, books, museum exhibitions. Our team of experienced researchers analyzed the business sector in order to identify and target the most relevant resources.
Focus on social media
Today, social media is a valuable source of information for trademark-related matters, as they often have a wide reach and audience.
However, identifying relevant social media content requires a significant amount of filtering, particularly to assess factors such as the audience’s geographic location.
The press: an indispensable resource
Our research specialists have combed through our internal documentary collection. Thanks to our digital library and technological tools, our team can quickly review the tens of thousands of publications we hold, including specialist and general-interest press.
We have also explored external press databases covering publications from many different countries. These databases are particularly valuable when it comes to locating publications from around the world, allowing us to identify sources from countries as diverse as the USA, Vietnam, China, Peru and Belgium !
In our case, searches were carried out in a large number of press titles, both French and from six other European countries: national and local daily press (Le Monde, Il Foglio, El Periódico, De Standaard, Gazet Van Antwerpen…), economic press (Capital, Ekonomist, Forbes, Time, Negocios…), lifestyle press (Harper’s Bazaar, Ideat, GQ, Elle, Cosmopolitan…) as well as in our thematic books on beverages and glassware.
Conducting the research is important, but carefully sorting and organising the results is just as essential. The publications identified were classified by trademark, product, country and date, and summarised in a chart to facilitate a quick and clear analysis.
