My guest blogger posting at SCORE.org this week is on the staying power of trademarks.  When used properly trademarks not only have staying power, they are valuable assets that appreciate over time. 

The more you use them the stronger they get.  Think of them as little brand names, logos, slogans and trade dress, all pumping iron and working in tandem to create a legal fortress around your core marketing strategies.

Unfortunately, businesses sometimes fail to realize that even certain common words they´ve been using over and over again may have acquired a secondary meaning in the minds of their customers that associate those words with their business.  When that happens a legal leverage opportunity could slip between their fingers. That´s what almost happened to the Yellow Pages, one of the cases discussed in my book, The Business Guide to Legal Literacy. 

The Yellow Pages had carved out a unique marketing space as a business directory for many many years.  Then along came someone else who started to publish their own yellow pages and called it just that — the Yellow Pages.  Advertisers, the heart of the Yellow Page business model, got confused.  Customers got confused.  And the Yellow Pages fought back by finally registering Yellow Pages as a federal trademark.  Only by the time they got around to it, with the competition already honing in on their marketing platform, they wound up registering The Real Yellow Pages instead.  That´s the way you see it on your phone directory today.

You too can legally protect the marketing platform you´ve invested precious time and money in developing.  Unlike patents that have complex filing procedures, trademarks are much easier.  Talk to your lawyer. 

With the economy crashing down around us it may be hard to find a business bright spot to be thankful for.  But I found inspiration in some recent news from Iraq.

The headline read “Premier of Iraq is Quietly Firing Fraud Monitors” and the article described how Prime Minister Nuri Kamal Al-Maliki was removing from office officials who were tasked with the job of fighting corruption and improving accountability and transparency in the government bureaucracy.  Before you jump to any conclusions, let me say that I’m not thankful these officials are being “retired.” 

I am, however, thankful that there are people within organizations who have the courage to standup for what is right, even when it runs contrary to senior management’s point of view.

When an employee raises a concern they deserve to be listened to.  Maybe they are chronic complainers, but maybe, just maybe they have a point.  If you listen with your heart and really hear what they are saying you can engage them in effective problem solving. But if you ignore them, play the blame game or otherwise shoot the messenger you will disenfranchise them and that can have costly consequences for your organization.

Disenfranchised employees blend into the woodwork.  They don’t want to be the bearers of bad news.  They say as little as possible. While that may be expedient in the short run, in the long run it’s an attitude that can metastasize across the corporate culture like an aggressive cancer and choke the flow of meaningful information.  It means “problems” are dealt with only when they’re too big to hide.  As a result, risk management is reactive - not proactive - and more expensive to solve or contain.

So this Thanksgiving give thanks to all the employees who care enough about the organization to stand up instead of shut up and to everyone willing to point out problems and areas for improvement.   Better yet, give thanks everyday.