Protecting your Business Name/Brand

Whether you are operating your business as a sole trader, partnership, LLP or limited company, you will have given it a name and may well have developed a logo, which together will be used to distinguish your business from your competitors.

A considerable amount of time and money can be spent creating your brand identity and developing the right name and “look” for your business. It would be frustrating to say the least for a third party to then come out of the woodwork to tell you that they already use that name. If that were to happen it could be a costly exercise to rectify the position.

For example, there would be the costs of settlement, including any compensation and the legal costs incurred in reaching a settlement; the loss arising from the possibility of shredding all materials that contained the third party’s business name/logo; the costs of developing a new brand and new print materials.

To minimise the risk of incurring such costs consider taking the following action:

• Investigation – is the name available or has someone else got there first?
• Trademark Registration
• Take action if anyone seeks to copy your IP

If you would like advice on protecting your business brand and trademark registration, please do not hesitate to contact us.