Trademarks are valuable assets, and trademark owners must be diligent in protecting their marks on all social media platforms to safeguard their brand. Here are a few basic tips for protecting your trademarks:

• Obtain federal registration of your trademark or service mark (“mark”) with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.
• Sign up for usernames on all the major social media platforms that correspond with your marks, even if you may never use them. If you control those usernames, no one else can.
• Take action if a username or posting is misrepresenting your mark and misleading customers in a commercial manner – file a complaint with the social media network (they all have their own process/forms), and, if necessary, contact an attorney.
• Use the proper symbol, ®, to indicate that your mark is registered.