Top Tips To Protect Your Brand

29/01/2010

By Mark Kingsley-Williams, Director, Trade Mark Direct

Your business' name or logo is a vital part of your corporate identity - it appears on everything from your office door, to all your stationary and marketing materials - despite this, alarmingly few businesses are taking the fundamental step of registering theirs with the Intellectual Property Office. Our recent survey showed that 85 percent of small businesses have not registered their trademark, putting their brand at risk.


Here we outline some top tips to help any trademark application go as smoothly as possible.

1. Registering your company or product name with Companies House...

...or owning the website address does not give you any trademark rights. The only way to be certain of trademark protection is to get the name registered at the Intellectual Property Office.

2. Do your homework. Check that the name you want can be registered as a trade mark at www.trademarkdirect.co.uk, that it's available for use at Companies House, and whether the internet domain name has already been taken.

3. Avoid being too literal or descriptive with your company or product name. Names such as Designer Leather Bags won't be accepted, nor will misspelt words such as Letha Bagz.

4. You can't register a trademark that includes a famous name or brand, for example Mike's Armani Shop.

5. Adding .com or .co.uk or ltd to a name that is otherwise identical to a registered trademark makes no difference, you can't use or register it.

6. Choosing made up names is one of the easiest ways to a successful trademark application. It's one of the reasons brand names such as Viagra, Accenture and Yakult come about.

7. If another company has already registered the name you want, you may still be able to register it if your products or services are different.... continued on page two >

 

 

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