​If your product or service is built around a particular brand identity, then you probably already understand the importance of registering your trademark with the USPTO. And if you’ve already made it through the long and painstaking registration process, then congratulations! But all too often, our small business and nonprofit clients assume that receiving the registration certificate is the end of the story. How do you make sure the time and expense you just went through to get your trademark registered in the first place doesn’t go down the drain? What do you need to know to avoid losing your trademark rights?

There are many reasons why you might consider partnering with another business or nonprofit. Often, working with another business that is not a direct competitor can provide your business with some expertise that it doesn’t already have or that you may not have the resources to develop in-house. This can lead to the formation of new products, services, or even market areas that neither business could develop on its own. But if you’ve ever had to work with individual business partners or nonprofit board members with diverging interests, then you can probably imagine how much more complex it is to successfully form these relationships with another entity.
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What should you be considering when discussing these types of arrangements?