Deborah cohn the importance of trademarks

Deborah Cohn - The Importance of Trademarks Deborah Cohn spent more than thirty years with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, before retiring from the agency at the end of 2014. She says that trademark law is critical in business because it protects against the unfair use of symbols, slogans, logos, names, and so forth that uniquely identify the goods and services associated with a business or brand.

"Through the federal registration of trademarks, the agency assists businesses in protecting their investments, promoting goods and services, and safeguarding consumers against confusion and deception in the marketplace," Deborah Cohn says. "Trademarks are an extremely important aspect of our economy. For many companies, their trademark is their most valuable asset. It is what consumers rely on for every transaction they do on a day-today basis. It's what drives our economy in the sense that companies and brand owners rely on the goodwill and recognition that they engender through their trademarks."

Deborah Cohn says that once they are established, trademark rights last in perpetuity in the United States, as long as the owner of the trademark renews it by filing certain declarations of continued use, and pays the associated fees. The first step in that process is making sure the trademark is not already in use, and if it is not, it is registered by applies to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Trademark law, she says, are more important now than ever before in today's economy, because of the increased importance of branding and the demonstrable economic value that goes with a brand. Consumers become loyal to a specific brand, so any confusion arising from trademark or brand infringement may lead to unfair competition. Businesses sometimes think that by incorporating under a specific name they are protected against trademark infringement, and have exclusive rights to their name and logo, even though they have not registered them, but that is not the case. The best protection, she says, is to register the brand as a trademark under the Trademark Act 2002.

Deborah Cohn attended the American University, and received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology in 1974. She later entered the George Mason University School of Law and received her Juris Doctor in 1982. She interviewed for a position as a trademark examining attorney with the USPTO and was hired in 1983. She spent her entire professional career there, eventually becoming its Commissioner for Trademarks, a post she held until her retirement at the end of 2014.