Your firms name, logo, words, colours, shapes, sounds etc and product are your intellectual property assets, and as such distinguish your company from rival companies. Therefore, it is important to understand how to register your trade mark.
Lawrence Smith-Higgins from intellectual property awareness campaign ‘What is the Key’, gives the following advice on maximising your brands.
The Benefits:
Your business’ name is one of the most important aspects of your company. If you get it right, it makes you stand out from the crowd, but if wrong it could cause you legal problems.
Your company trade mark can be very powerful and valuable. Therefore, protecting them should also be a vital consideration whenever a new business is being launched, though, if your business already exists and is not trademarked, it may not be too late.
Too often, others wish to take the credit for your company’s ideas, which, if unprotected, your company could suffer from if someone is using an indistinguishable name to yours for their mistakes and bad publicity.
Un-registered Trade Marks
Trade marks are also often the most valuable marketing tool your company will have, but they don’t always have to be registered. If a good trading reputation has been built up in a mark, a degree of protection is afforded by common law.
If this is to succeed in court though, you have to be able to prove the reputation of your firms mark and that confusion and harm has been caused by someone else.
Registered Marks
If your trade mark is registered, it gives you the immediate right to stop someone else using the same or similar mark to you on the same or similar goods/services, without having to prove your reputation or that confusion has been caused.
Is Your Trade Mark Yours Alone?
You should check that the name of your business or product isn’t already in use. It could cause severe problems if your name is on every product you make, and then realise that you are infringing a trade mark that has already been registered.
At best, this could mean you have to re-brand all your goods or re-name your company. At worst, it could mean your defending yourself in a court case.
How Much Are Trade Marks?
Actually, they are relatively cheap in the grand scheme of things. £200, renewed every 10 years is all it takes.
Other Advice:
• You can’t use the ® symbol unless your trade mark is registered
• You can use TM whether or not your company is registered
• A Registered UK Trade Mark only protects you in the UK. If your company trades outside the UK, you should consider international protection
• You should seek professional advice on trade marks when deciding n a business name, product, slogan etc.
What Do You Think?
Have you been caught out in the past? Do you have any other advice for others about trade marks? Leave your comments here.
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1 Comment
Historically, business performance measurement has relied on various financial measurements. The ability to efficiently manage capital structures and leverage assets is a key indicator of a successful businesses enterprise. Increasingly, to perform these functions effectively, resources must be devoted to identifying key, often hidden, assets and ensuring the financial performance of business units are measured in comparatively meaningful ways.
In today’s economy, most companies have created or accumulated through acquisition, a variety of valuable intangible assets. For many companies, these intangibles are the organization’s most valuable assets. Other than investment assets, the range of intangibles that a company might own include patents, copyrights, trade names, trademarks, service marks, formulas, processes, proprietary data of various types, and customer lists. At a minimum, maintenance of those intangibles is an increasingly important business function. Identification, valuation, protection, and management of a wide range of intellectual property can be a challenging task.