January 17, 2010

Scam # 3 To Avoid in International Business: Putting your Trademark in their Name

There are a lot of global companies that had been a victim of this kind of scam. Companies such as Burger King, Ford, Car & Driver magazine and Reader’s Digest have been once quarried by this technique.

This is how this works: Global companies work with unknown consultants. In this kind of business, it is the consultant’s responsibility to register the company name in behalf of the company. What they do is they will blackmail the parent company by making them buy their name back.

For example, if XYZ firm plans to enter Canada. A Canadian consultant will trademark the name of the firm without XYZ firm’s knowledge. And the firm should pay the consultant to get ehir trademark back.

So this is a warning for all the firms out there to just register their name with consultants whom they could trust. You must protect your name because it has a price when you are in a global setting.

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