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Tag Archives: logo

So…what’s in a name?

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Liz Sproston

Regardless of the size of your business, and however big you become, your company name and brand will be one of your most valuable assets.

Your name and brand represents your business.  You spend a lot of time and money designing your name and logo, building goodwill with your customers and suppliers, but…

  • Have you started to trade using a name or brand identity that is the same or similar to someone else?
  • What if someone else starts to trade using a similar name?
  • What if you want to franchise or sell your business in the future – how can you secure the most value from your brand?

You need to protect your investment and put yourself in the best position to leverage its value.

The most effective way to protect your name or brand is to register it as a trade mark.  This:

  • helps you to confirm the uniqueness of your name/brand;
  • makes it much easier to stop someone copying or trading off your name/brand;
  • allows you to use the ® logo which acts as a deterrent to third parties; and
  • will make it easier to sell, franchise or license when your business achieves its full potential.

 We can help you by:

  • filing trade marks on your behalf in the UK, Europe and Internationally depending on the size of your business.
  • providing “clearance checks” to see whether your chosen name is available before you go ahead with a new launch which could save you the cost of re-branding if your name has already been taken.
  • advising on how to design your name/brand to best secure a trade mark registration.
  • helping deal with disputes and challenges to your trade mark and/or name/brand.

If you would like to arrange a free initial discussion on any aspect of registering your trade mark then please contact us.

Posted in Blog, Intellectual Property, Trade Marks | Tagged brand name, logo, trade marks

What’s the difference between using a ™ and ® symbol after your brand name?

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Liz Sproston

Anyone with a brand name or logo which they are using ‘as a trade mark’ is permitted to use the ™ symbol after it to indicate that it is being used as a trade mark.

The key though is that in order to gain any value from doing so, you need to ensure that you are using it ‘as a trade mark’ as opposed to merely descriptively.  This means highlighting it from the surrounding text such as by putting it in bold or capital letters, and using it as an adjective rather than as a noun.

The ‘stronger’ symbol to use after your brand name is the ® symbol which puts whoever reads it on notice that your name is a registered trade mark.  By registering a trade mark, it makes it much quicker and cheaper to bring legal action against someone else seeking to use an identical or similar name.

In fact, the use of the ® symbol alone can act as a deterrent against others considering using a similar name to yours.

If you would like to arrange a free discussion about registering your trade mark then please contact us on 07551 585783.

Posted in Blog, Trade Marks | Tagged brand name, logo, ® symbol

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The founder of The Big Ideas Legal Company is Liz Sproston, a qualified solicitor practising in England. She is a self employed practitioner contracted as a consultant to Virtual Law and covered under Virtual Law's professional indemnity insurance that provides cover up to £5 million. Virtual Law is a recognised body that is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA No. 462361), whose rules are available at www.sra.org.uk.

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