Creating a brand
In order to be a successful business you need to create a brand.
The name you choose for your company is therefore very important. A
distinctive and memorable name, combined with a recognisable logo
and a good product or service, should set you off on the right
track to establishing a successful brand.
Protecting the brand
If you are going to spend a lot of time and money developing the
business and promoting your brand then you want to be sure that you
have the exclusive right to use the name and logo and that nobody
else is using it already. What businesses often overlook is any
kind of protection of the name and logo. So what kinds of
protection are there?
Copyright
Any artwork that you create is automatically protected by
copyright as soon as you 'record it'. Essentially what this means
is that as soon as your idea for the artwork is committed in a
permanent form (e.g. on paper/computer etc.), you become the legal
owner of the work and of the intellectual property rights in the
work. This only applies if you created the artwork and did not
simply copy somebody else's work. The downside of copyright is that
if you ever want to rely on it for protection, you have to prove
that you created the artwork before anybody else (which can be
tricky if you don't have a date-stamped copy of the work). Another
drawback is that names are not protected by copyright.
Trademark
A much better way of protecting your company name and logo is to
register them as a trademark. This is an inexpensive process and
means that the name and logo are placed on a register which is
available for all to see. Registration notifies the world that you
own that name and logo and that nobody else is allowed to use it
without your permission. Trademarks are territory specific, so it
is important to register in any country that you intend to market
your brand.
Passing off
If you don't have a registered trademark and somebody does start
using your logo, then your only option is to sue them for 'passing
off'. Passing off requires three things. First you must prove that
your goods or services have become well known. Secondly, you must
show that the person you are accusing has misled the public into
believing that their product or service is connected to your
product or service. Finally, you need to show that as a result of
this, you have suffered some sort of damage. Clearly, this can be a
time consuming and expensive process.
What you should do
It is important to protect your brand as early as possible. A
trademark law specialist can arrange the registration of your
trademark for a relatively small fee. In the long run this fee will
seem like exceptional value for money when the alternative would be
potentially lengthy and costly legal proceedings to prove passing
off. A final consideration is that with the growing importance of
the internet, it is also highly advisable to buy your company name
as a domain name so that others cannot take advantage of your very
valuable internet traffic.
ACUMEN MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT LAW are
specialists in legal and business affairs. For further information
on how to go about registering a trademark or protecting your
intellectual property rights and for all media and entertainment
law requirements please contact us on 08458 678978 or visit our
website: Acumen Media & Entertainment.
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