Trademarks are designed to foster a company’s reputation and goodwill. To safeguard that goodwill and preserve their trademark rights, trademark holders must adequately police their marks. Increasingly, though, individuals and small businesses accused of infringement are using social media campaigns to label legitimate trademark enforcement as "trademark bullying."
In some instances, these David vs. Goliath stories have attracted national headlines with potentially devastating public relations effects for the trademark owner’s brand value and reputation, a phenomenon at odds with the very aims of trademark enforcement. In this environment, trademark holders and their counsel should carefully consider how to police their markswhile lessening the likelihood that they will be labeled a trademark bully.
