A rose by any other name

Bruce Jones, Partner

We get it – you’ve come up with a business idea, everyone’s very excited, you just want to crack on and conquer. Before you do, take a minute and ask yourself – have you picked the right name?

Lots of clashes come from businesses innocently (or otherwise) picking a name, then spending money branding themselves and getting the word out, only to be handed an angry legal letter demanding a rebrand and payment of damages. Heartbreaking. But how do we avoid this? Here are some tips:

• Check the UK IPO register. This is a list of all the registered trade marks in the UK, so you can see if there’s anyone else with a registered mark for similar services to you. If there is someone else out there with a similar sounding name in the same industry, you might save a lot of hassle down the line in just choosing a different name.
• Avoid descriptive names. This often trips people up, because it doesn’t mean descriptive like an adjective. If you ever want to register your trading name, it can’t just describe what you’re making or doing. For example, you might want to think twice before calling yourself “Restaurant” if you’re a restaurant, or calling yourself “Cups” if you make cups.
• Pick something distinctive. The more unique, the better. The strongest trade marks tend to be made up words like “Kodak” or “Asda”. Because they’re made up, they don’t remind your customers or anyone else, and they don’t have any other meaning. It will also be harder for other people to copy you, as they wont be able to claim it’s a reference to anything else.
• Register your trade mark. Getting registered means it’s easier to defend you position if anyone starts to copy you, and it’s much less likely that you’ll find yourself inadvertently infringing a registered trade mark.

If you’re thinking of registering a trade mark or looking for any other advice on your business’ intellectual property, get in touch with us at ipdepartment@kuits.com