This document discusses brand monitoring and the services provided by eTrademarkSolutions.com. Brand monitoring involves regularly searching online resources to find references to a company's trademarks and competitors' trademarks to protect trademark rights. It allows companies to identify infringers, address consumer and competitor reactions, monitor licensees and franchises, keep tabs on competition, and maintain exclusive trademark rights as required by law. eTrademarkSolutions.com offers standard and customized brand monitoring packages for clients with one or more trademarks.

1. eTrademarkSolutions.com a service of Fabian, LLC phone: 866.545.7859 web: www.fabianlegal.com twitter: @jsfabian in: in/jeffreyfabian What is brand monitoring? ©2011 Fabian, LLC | All Rights Reserved. eTrademarkSolutions.com

2. eTrademarkSolutions.com a service of Fabian, LLC phone: 866.545.7859 web: www.fabianlegal.com twitter: @jsfabian in: in/jeffreyfabian Imagine this: One day a consumer comes to you complaining about a product they purchased recently, and demands a refund. You review your order history, and discover that you did not sell the product in the first place. However, the customer insists that they purchased the product from you, because they recognized your logo on the packaging. You do some research, and find out that a competitor has been using a trademark almost identical to yours for the past six months. When you contact the competitor, they refuse to change their logo, claiming that they adopted it innocently (although this is not a legitimate excuse), and anyway they purchased their domain name a long time ago, so they aren’t sure that you actually have prior rights. Plus, they have sunk a lot of money into marketing, and they aren’t going down without a fight. Now imagine this: You receive notice that someone has purchased a domain name that is uncomfortably similar to your primary trademark. You contact the purchaser almost immediately informing them of your pre-existing trademark rights, and stating your intent to enforce them. The domain name lies dormant over time. This is the value of trademark monitoring. ©2011 Fabian, LLC | All Rights Reserved. eTrademarkSolutions.com

4. This serves a number of important benefits, not the least of which is that federal law requires trademark owners to monitor and enforce their trademark rights in order to maintain exclusivity.

5. A comprehensive brand monitoring strategy will incorporate research on pending trademark registration applications, domain name acquisitions, social media usage, entity filings, SEO keywords, and a host of other resources.©2011 Fabian, LLC | All Rights Reserved. eTrademarkSolutions.com

7. Trademark law protects brand owners from consumer confusion and unfair competition, and monitoring allows brand owners to uncover issues before they get out of control.

8. Infringers are more likely to comply if they haven’t already put time and effort into developing “their” brand.©2011 Fabian, LLC | All Rights Reserved. eTrademarkSolutions.com

10. It also allows brand owners to monitor competitors’ representations. These representations can take the form of comparative advertising, negative “reviews”, domain names, social media accounts, and PPC advertising keywords that show their websites instead of yours.

11. As with infringement, acting swiftly is the best way to mitigate harm from negative and improper references, and trademark monitoring allows you to take action promptly.©2011 Fabian, LLC | All Rights Reserved. eTrademarkSolutions.com

13. Licensees must be monitored to ensure: (i) proper trademark use, (ii) compliance with contractual obligations (including non-disparagement), (iii) avoidance of misleading advertising, and (iv) appropriate separation between licensor and licensee to limit exposure to vicarious liability

14. For franchisors, trademark monitoring is absolutely essential.©2011 Fabian, LLC | All Rights Reserved. eTrademarkSolutions.com

16. Monitoring competitors’ online activity allows you to keep abreast of recent updates and future releases for their product/service lines, and also lets you know what strategies they are using—either effectively or ineffectively—to promote their brands.

17. Monitoring competitors’ trademarks can also turn you on to indirect references to your brand. If a competitor makes reference to “the other guy” and “the other guy” is actually (and apparently) you, this is something you are probably going to want to know about.©2011 Fabian, LLC | All Rights Reserved. eTrademarkSolutions.com

19. In addition, loss of control of a company’s trademarks results in devaluation of the brand and the company.

20. Did you know “Aspirin” and “Elevator” used to be proprietary marks? Their former owners lost control of the rights, and now these words are in the public domain.©2011 Fabian, LLC | All Rights Reserved. eTrademarkSolutions.com

22. Trademark monitoring services are provided for flat monthly or annual rates (discounts provided for annual payments).

23. Monitoring covers pending trademark registration applications and more than 100 federal, state and common law databases, including social media accounts and domain names.

24. Monitoring results are provided in a comprehensive trademark portfolio which includes guidance and other tools for maximizing the value of your trademarks.©2011 Fabian, LLC | All Rights Reserved. eTrademarkSolutions.com

25. Contact Information eTrademarkSolutions.com a service of Fabian, LLC phone: 866.545.7859 web: www.fabianlegal.com twitter: @jsfabian in: in/jeffreyfabian thank you for reading. ©2011 Fabian, LLC | All Rights Reserved. eTrademarkSolutions.com