Know-How Exchange : Branding

As wonderful as patents and trademarks are, I've seen way too many clients (and others) become side-tracked by an obsession over their legal rights. What those protections do is give you the right to spend more time and money trying to "be right" and less for the important tasks in business planning, management, and marketing.

Despite the "unfairness" of that system, my strong suggestion would be to get over it quickly and refocus your efforts on building your business. If customers know that you're offering a product they need, they certainly won't worry about who is encroaching on your turf. And the better job you do of getting to know what your customers want, the better job you'll do of delivering a product that they'll recognize as the solution to their problems.

I know it's really frustrating to have someone riding on your coat-tails, or even trying to steal your coat, but the cost of serious enforcement of your IP rights is almost always greater than it's worth, so don't let your fury drive you to the poor-house. The greatest costs are NOT the legal fees; it's the focus taken away from building your business. You can sometimes recover lost money, but you can never recover lost time.