It’s no surprise how much time and effort goes into building a company. That’s why it’s crucial that you understand how to protect and trademark your brand. So, let’s take a look.
The first thing that comes to mind when thinking about protecting and owning your brand is Trademarking. Trademarks are a type of intellectual property that identifies a product or service as your own. These can consist of recognisable signs, designs, or expressions that are unique to your brand. Intellectual property refers to the category of property that is intangible, or in other words creations of the human intellect. Note that these aren’t necessarily a product or service. For example, patents, copyrights, and trade secrets are often considered intellectual property.
Although there is no one forcing you to protect certain aspects of your brand, it’s highly recommended for many reasons. Without a proper trademark in place, there is nothing stopping a competitor or new company from simply taking your logo or slogan and making their own. If they suddenly outgrow you, your company will be left as a distant memory in the mind of the consumer.
Trademarking also saves you from falling victim to what we like to call, ‘cybersquatters’. These are people that sit and wait for brands to start gaining popularity so they can quickly buy your brand name, logo or slogan and try to sell it back to you for extortionate amounts.
When looking into the trademarking process, there are few things that need to be taken into consideration. If you are a new company, we strongly recommend making sure that what you are trademarking isn’t similar or closely related to anything that currently exists.
Copyright infringement lawsuits can be very costly and it’s definitely not a situation you want to find yourself in. Therefore, if you’re a business that operates overseas, you need to look into the Intellectual Property rights of each geographical location to make sure that your rights are valid wherever you want to do business.
Once you’ve researched trademarks and intellectual property rights, it’s time to start the trademark process. Thankfully, as this is now very commonplace among brands, the process has become fairly straightforward. The Trademark Application can be found on the IPO/GOV website for U.K. brands. Additionally, here’s a 7-step overview of the application process:
Here are some links that may help you with your Trademark Application:
If you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch! We’d love to hear from you.