Trademarks and Social Media: Five Measures for Brand Health

“Web 2.0,” the internet world of social media and user-generated content, marks a dramatic shift in commercial, as well as personal, discourse.  As with any technology-based change, Web 2.0 offers great potential for both good and ill.  And this presents enormous challenges for trademark owners.  Matters can “go viral” almost instantaneously.  And for trademark owners, it is like letting the proverbial genie out of the bottle.  Marketing and advertising strategies and tactics uniformly must now consider the reach and power of social media.  Yet once unleashed, social media represents an immediate loss of a substantial amount of control over a trademark.  If a trademark becomes the subject of social media communications, whether in a form produced by the trademark owner or as the subject of social media chatter, the winds of popular sentiment will drive the outcome, not necessarily the trademark owner.

What this means is that the trademark owner must be more vigilent, proactive, and determined today than ever before.  Monitoring one’s trademark wherever it may be used, challenging those who misuse, damage, or usurp the trademark, and encouraging those who promulgate awareness and, one hopes, sales is a challenge as immense as the Internet is vast.  The speed with which a problem use becomes both widespead and indelibly etched in the memory of countless servers can be daunting to even the bravest among us.  Action is required. 

Here are five simple measures to reduce the potential harm Web 2.0 can generate for a trademark owner:

1.  Register the trademark on as many social media sites as possible.  The registrations are free, though potentially time-consuming.  One solution is to outsource this task to vendors who are now trying to serve this new need.  See tm.biz, for example. 

2.  Audit the manner in which the trademark owner company disseminates the trademark on the web to make sure that whatever the company produces conforms to the company’s trademark usage guidelines.  Inconsistent and improper use of a trademark by the trademark owner will not only undermine the vitality of the trademark in the first instance, but yield a ballooning progeny of improper trademark uses by those interested enough to republish it, errors and all.

3.  Develop a thick skin.  Not everyone will like the trademark, the quality of the product or service, or the company itself.  Web 2.0 encourages people to speak their minds, and ranting is a popular sport.  Do not be enticed into debating merits with someone whose views are pretty much set in stone already. The company’s retorts will be republished in the worst possible light.  On the other hand, constructive discussions that take complaints seriously and promise improvements in the product or service is a way to build brand fans.  Of course, this assumes that the discussion leads to product/service improvements and not simply mollification.

4.  Make sure every employee recognizes that he or she is the eyes and ears of the company and responsible for reporting instances of trademark misuse, derision, or infringement encountered on the web.  Reward people who report what they see to encourage reporting. This also means that there must be a facility for gathering such reports, making reasoned judgments concerning their subject matter, and ultimately taking appropriate action.

5.  Perform periodic assessments of how the company’s trademarks are appearing on the web and refine branding strategy and tactics to elicit greater positive contexts for the trademarks and reduce the opportunities for the trademarks to become targets of rants, misuse, and, of course, infringement.  Take time to reflect on what works and what does not. 

In the Web 2.0 environment, agility is rewarded, but not at the sacrifice of trademark fundamentals.  Consistent trademark usage in association with products and services of the highest quality remain paramount.  Use the discourse of Web 2.0 to improve on the fundamentals.  Then, take these simple steps to maintain trademark integrity.

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This blog-post is for general informational purposes only and is not intended as legal advice.  Please consult your attorney about your particular situation. 

The views expressed in this blog-post are the personal views of David Gryce and do not represent the views of Arent Fox LLP, its partners, employees, or clients.

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