Trademark Protection for Private Label Brands: How to Safeguard Your Intellectual Property

In the e-commerce world, having a private label brand is one of the best ways to distinguish yourself from the competition. Simply put, private label branding lets you offer something unique and proprietary to your online customers and fans.

But of course, simply developing a private label approach is not enough. You also have to protect your value proposition, ensuring your intellectual property is safe and sound. Doing so requires you to navigate trademark laws while also ensuring your business is properly-structured to help ward off legal challenges.

 

Trademark Protection: Basic Guidelines for Private Label Brands

To start with, here are some best practices for private label brands looking to keep their IP secure.

Register Trademarks

One of the preliminary steps is to ensure you’ve properly trademarked all of your branding assets, including brand names, slogans, and logos. Trademarking is a legal must if you want to prevent unauthorized use of these assets, and to keep your brand identity from being diluted.

Consider Patenting

While patenting is not always necessary in the world of e-commerce, it’s something to consider, especially if you have a product or a process that’s truly unique. Again, a patent is an essential form of legal protection, and a way you can avoid unauthorized use.

Use Copyrights

Still a third type of intellectual property protection to consider is copyrighting. A copyright can help you protect any unique content you develop, whether that’s packaging for your private label products, or one-of-a-kind marketing materials.

Implement Non-Disclosure Agreements

An NDA can help you ensure that any manufacturers, suppliers, or other partners you work with do not reveal or publicize any of your trade secrets or proprietary information. NDAs can help you avoid speculation about the true origins of your private label products.

Focus on Cybersecurity

Another way to safeguard your private label brand? Be diligent about online security. Ensure you’re using all the right tools and protocols to keep proprietary information from being hacked, stolen, or otherwise breached.

Educate Employees

If you have in-house employees helping you with your e-commerce business, it’s important that you train them in how to recognize and safeguard trade secrets and other types of sensitive information.

 

Advanced Steps for Securing Your Trademarks

There are a few additional steps that you can take, once you’ve registered your trademarks, to keep those trademarks secure. Here are a few tips for private label e-commerce brands.

Perform Searches on a Regular Basis

Get into the rhythm of conducting trademark searches semi-regularly, looking for any potential infringements or conflicts with your existing trademarks. If you see any issues, it may be time to talk with your intellectual property attorney.

Use Trademark Symbols

Remember to affix relevant products with ™ or ® symbols, alerting consumers as well as industry peers that these are branded and proprietary products. These symbols will usually convey your seriousness about cracking down on potential infringers.

Keep Current

Something else to keep in mind: You’ll need to maintain your trademark registration, which might mean submitting supporting documentation on a regular basis. 

Limit Your Licensing

When you trademark your IP, you have the option of granting limited-use licenses to partners or to customers, allowing them to legally use your trademarked content. As a general rule, you want to license your IP infrequently, and only with clearly-defined agreements that allow you to maintain a high level of control over your brand.

 

Using an LLC to Safeguard Your IP

Still another important step for e-commerce companies looking to safeguard their intellectual property is registering as a Limited Liability Company, or LLC. Here’s a breakdown of exactly what that might look like.

What is an LLC?

When you start generating income on the basis of any kind of self-employed activity, your legal status defaults to Sole Proprietor. In a Sole Proprietorship, one person makes all decisions on behalf of the business, and is responsible for all revenues as well as liabilities.

Registering your e-commerce company as an LLC establishes it as its own distinct legal entity, allowing you to completely separate business assets and liabilities from personal ones. This has some important implications for trademark protection.

 

How Does an LLC Help with Trademark Protection?

Some specific benefits of the LLC format include:

 

▶Liability Protection. An LLC provides personal liability protection for its owner(s), which means that if someone infringes on your trademark, only the assets of the LLC are at risk. Your personal assets are safe and secure.

▶Ownership Clarity. An LLC helps to more clearly define ownership of the trademark, making it easier to register that trademark under the business name (and to enforce it).

▶Separate Legal Entity. Because it is a separate legal entity, an LLC can own trademarks. This makes it easier to transfer or license the trademark without involving any personal assets.

 

What are the Steps for Registering an LLC?

The process for registering your e-commerce company as an LLC can vary from one state to the next, but a general outline would look something like this:

 

▶Find a Registered Agent. This can be a person or institution in the state where you’re registering; so, when starting an LLC in Arizona (for instance), you’ll need a Registered Agent with an Arizona address.

▶File Articles of Organization with your state, paying any relevant registration fees (anywhere from $20 to $300, depending on the state).

▶Create an Operating Agreement, which codifies the actual management and administration of your e-commerce company.

 

For Private Label Brands, Trademark Protection is Invaluable

For e-commerce companies that sell their products on a private label basis, few things matter more than safeguarding proprietary information, including branded assets and trade secrets. Trademark protection, including LLC registration, is invaluable here, and can help preserve the overall value of your private label brand. For more information, reach out to an IP lawyer in your area!

 

Author Bio

Amanda E. Clark is a contributing writer to LLC University. She has appeared as a subject matter expert on panels about content and social media marketing.