Business Name = Business Asset

Imitation may well be the highest form of flattery, but your losses could be huge if a competitor uses your name to promote its wares. 

Think about it.  Your name appears prominently on your marketing efforts.  It’s above your door.  It’s on your brochures.  It’s how you answer the phone.   Whether it is your listing in a telephone directory, or more importantly for e-commerce, searching for your website, your customer needs to know your name before they can pay you for your services.

If a competitor uses your name all your marketing efforts become worthless.  In extreme cases you may as well start again.  Legal action for the unwary innocent party is time consuming, expensive, and unlikely to deliver the result you want.

But if you are serious about protecting your name a registered trademark is an essential way to defend your brand.  It restricts the use of your name for a modest initial outlay, and can include your colours.  Trademarks appear on a public register which is a definitive guide to who has the rights to use specific names for specific purposes.

Protection is renewable every 10 years, and covers the whole of the UK.  In certain cases it can extend to the rest of the world.

Tolhurst Fisher will be with you every step of the way, from initial consultation, to guiding you through the application and registration process, to enforcement.  For further details contact Edward Garston on 01245 216110.