How You Can Benefit From Registering A Trademark

Does your business have intellectual property in its name?  Of course it does. If the business you run uses either a logo or a name which can distinguish your business from others, then you already have a trademark – albeit an unregistered one. But there is only very limited protection for unregistered trademarks. To get proper protection you really need to register your own trademark. Delay in registering a trade mark could see your business losing out. By registering you will give your company name and logo protection against another business using them.

But what's the difference between a registered and unregistered mark? An unregistered trademark does give you a degree of protection – so if you find that another business is using a similar, or worse still, identical logo or business name, and they haven't taken the steps of getting that trademark registered, then you may be able to stop them using your brand. In such a case you can write to any business using your business name or logo or a similar name or logo, asking them to stop doing so. That can also be followed by an application to court for an injunction to stop them entirely – but persuading the court to grant an injunction, in the absence of trademark registration, is likely to prove difficult - especially if the offending businesses is not local to you..

On the contrary, if you have registered your trade mark and you find another business using a name or logo that is the same similar to yours, first of all, you should write to them, asking them to desist. If that fails, then you should consider taking out an injunction in court.  The court will, however, have to be persuaded that the goodwill, or reputation, of your business depends on the name or logo and that the rival company is confusing customers by using a similar branding or identity - which will be much simpler than if your branding remained unregistered.

Law surrounding trademarks, and indeed all intellectual property, is highly complex – you need to make sure that when you choose your intellectual property lawyers, you pick one to specialise in this field and who really know what they're doing. We believe that our intellectual property solicitor, Laura Trapnell, is the most experienced in Wilts and Dorset – and one of very few indeed who specialise entirely in intellectual property work.

For more information, visit one of our specialist intellectual property websites

• Intellectual Property Lawyer
• Trade Mark UK
• Copyright Solicitors

Or call us for city quality intellectual property legal advice at local prices.

• call us on (01722) 422300 or
• e-mail advice@intellectual-property-lawyer.co.uk

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