Three Reasons To Conduct A Trademark Audit

Businesses understand that intellectual property ("IP")–trademarks, copyrights, patents, trade secrets, know-how, etc. – is among their most valuable assets. But do they know the extent of their IP? And is that IP fully protected? An audit can help answer these questions.

What Is an Audit?

An audit is a review of all IP used by a business, whether owned by that business or licensed from a third-party. An audit provides the business with an overview of its IP assets, which in turn may reveal areas where protection is lacking or warrants expansion, and where internal policies relating to IP can be improved, among other things.

Each type of IP covered by an audit will raise its own unique issues. This article will focus on three benefits of an IP audit in the context of trademarks – the names, logos, and other matter that businesses use to identify their goods and services in the marketplace.