Trademark
& IP Blog
Practical insights on trademarks, licensing, enforcement, and brand strategy for growing businesses and creators.
Published by Randi Leath, Esq.
Building a Portfolio & Licensing Strategy That Supports Growth
Before you expand into new markets, license your concept, or invest heavily in growth, your trademark strategy needs to support that ambition. Here’s how one business built the right foundation for national expansion.
Welcome to Trademarks in Practice — a series where I break down how trademark strategy plays out in real businesses and the decisions behind the scenes that shape how brands grow, expand, and protect what they’re building.
In this installment, we’re looking at how one growing business used trademark clearance, portfolio development, and licensing strategy to move from a strong local brand to a scalable expansion model.
Step 1: Clearance Before Commitment
Every strong trademark strategy starts with one question:
Is this brand actually safe to build on?
Before filing applications, we conducted a comprehensive clearance analysis. This went beyond a quick database search. We evaluated:
Existing federal registrations
Pending applications
Marketplace use
Strength and distinctiveness of the mark
Long-term risk exposure
Why this matters in practice:
It’s dangerous to license what you don’t clearly own.
If you plan to expand, license, or invest heavily in marketing, uncertainty is expensive. Clearance gives you clarity. It allows you to move forward with confidence instead of crossing your fingers and hoping no one objects later.
Step 2: Building the Trademark Portfolio
When building a brand designed to grow, protecting the name is only the beginning.
Before moving forward, we stepped back and assessed what the brand actually consisted of. Not just its primary name, but the full collection of brand assets that would carry it into new markets.
This business wasn’t just offering one service in one location. They were building a concept with room to expand. That meant identifying which brand assets needed protection now, and which new assets should be developed specifically to support licensing and future growth.
So we structured and secured a layered portfolio that included:
The core brand name
A sub-brand designed specifically for licensing and expansion
The brand’s tagline
Its logos and stylized marks
Each filing was part of a broader strategy designed to protect the brand as it exists today while laying the groundwork for where it’s headed next.
Step 3: Using Trademarks as the Foundation for Licensing
Once the portfolio was in place, we shifted from protection to growth.
The business wanted to expand into new markets without losing control over brand identity. That’s where licensing comes in.
At its core, a trademark license is a legal agreement that allows another party to use your trademark under defined conditions. In a license the trademark owner grants permission to use the mark in specific ways, often within certain territories and subject to agreed quality standards.
When structured intentionally, a license becomes a tool for expansion. It allows a business to grow beyond its original footprint while maintaining consistency and control.
For this business's expansion goals, we helped them:
Develop a dedicated licensing sub-brand
Create brand guidelines to preserve consistency
Draft structured licensing agreements
Design scalable models, from limited partnerships to regional expansion
With that groundwork laid, future expansion became far more straightforward.
They aren’t rebuilding agreements from scratch each time they enter a new market. They aren’t scrambling to fix trademark issues. They aren’t reinventing brand standards to maintain consistency across locations.
Instead, they’re building on a framework that was designed from the outset to make growth simpler.
Step 4: Preparing for Enforcement — Before You Need It
A successful licensing program doesn’t end with signed agreements and brand guidelines. It requires a plan for how the trademark will be protected as the business expands.
As part of this work, we prepared the client to enforce their trademark rights, both within the licensing program and beyond it.
When you license your brand, you take on a responsibility to monitor and control how that trademark is used. Trademark law requires quality control. Licensees must use the brand consistently and in accordance with established standards. We discussed how to monitor that use, address inconsistencies early, and maintain the integrity of the mark as the business grows.
We also walked through the broader enforcement tools available should issues arise in the marketplace:
When oppositions make sense
What cancellation proceedings involve
How cease-and-desist letters fit into brand protection
When negotiation or settlement is more strategic than litigation
When and how to involve legal counsel in enforcement decisions
They haven’t needed to enforce yet.
But they understand the tools available and are prepared to respond thoughtfully, if and when enforcement became necessary.
Step 5: Maintenance Is Strategy
Trademarks are long-term assets.
We discussed renewal timelines, expansion filings as the business grows, and how licensing impacts quality control obligations. As the business enters new markets, launches new offerings, or refines its brand, the trademark portfolio needs to reflect those changes.
That means:
Revisiting filings when services expand.
Tracking renewal deadlines well in advance.
Ensuring licensees are using the brand consistently and correctly.
And periodically reassessing whether the portfolio still aligns with where the business is headed.
In practice, trademarks are not “file once and forget.” They are managed assets that evolve with the business.
And when they’re managed intentionally, they continue to support growth instead of creating friction later.
The Result
What started as a strong local brand now has a presence in multiple states, supported by:
A cleared & defensible core brand trademark portfolio
A licensing framework built for expansion
Clear ownership and brand control
The knowledge and tools to maintain and enforce their rights as they grow
More importantly, they now have the infrastructure to continue expanding nationally without reinventing the wheel each time.
That’s the real outcome of thoughtful trademark strategy. Not just registrations. Not just protection.
But a business that can expand with clarity, consistency, and confidence.
TL;DR:
When done thoughtfully, trademark strategy becomes more than protection. It becomes infrastructure.
Clearance reduces risk.
A portfolio supports expansion.
Licensing creates leverage.
Enforcement readiness preserves value.
Maintenance sustains growth.
That’s what it looks like when trademark strategy is built to support growth.
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First Use is written by Randi Leath, a trademark and intellectual property attorney who advises businesses, entrepreneurs, and creatives on on building, protecting, and using their brands.
Her practice focuses on trademarks, licensing, enforcement, and brand strategy, with an emphasis on providing practical, business-minded guidance tailored to each client’s goals.