3. Searching the Internet The ubiquity of the Internet and proliferation of search engines and soc

3. Searching the Internet
The ubiquity of the Internet and proliferation of search engines and social media have made prevention of unauthorized trademark use more critical, and, at the same time, more complicated. The Internet presents numerous opportunities for unauthorized use of a trademark: through ad words, domain name registrations or in online content. Web monitoring services are an easy and efficient way to reveal online trademark abuse. Third-party monitoring services can comprehensively inspect and assess all digital content on the Internet including domain names, social media sites and ad words. Medtech companies also can use automated online searches, such as Google Alert, to monitor where and when their trademarks are used on the Internet.

As an alternative, companies that choose not to use a website monitoring service can still use search engines to periodically identify uses of their trademarks online. Companies that decide to search online themselves should be careful to include a variety of search terms, search for common misspellings and phonetic equivalents, and check social media sites in addition to websites.
Conducting online searches through the use of search engines will not identify newly filed trademark applications or domain name registrations. However, conducting online searches in conjunction with subscribing to a watching service and ordering clearance search reports will provide opportunities to identify potential misuse and infringements of their trademarks. Although not every use of a trademark can be controlled, keeping track of potential unauthorized uses of the medtech company’s trademarks is important to protect the goodwill associated with the brand and the legal validity of the trademarks.