Tech Law  »  Protecting your brand

  

Intellectual Property can not only be an important revenue stream for businesses, it is the very identity of a business, and protecting your Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs has become a critical part of any business plan.

There are two main elements to intellectual property:

1. Rights in IP that you as a business have created and look to sell;


2. Rights in your business identity itself.

If you are a business that manufactures goods, you will look to protect these goods by making sure that they are kept safe from theft or damage. The same should be true of the intellectual property in the goods that you produce, such as the design, composition or method of manufacture. It could also be that you provide a service or ‘soft’ goods such as software or reports, and these too should be protected from infringement by copying or reselling without your permission.

Protecting the identity of your business is a growing issue. More and more unscrupulous individuals or businesses attempt to trade off the name or ‘goodwill’ of existing successful businesses. This may be choosing a name that is very similar to your name or using a brand or logo that you have used with success. It is always better to be prepared for such eventualities by registering any brands or logos with the relevant registers before anyone does this to you.

Intellectual property is a specialised area, and there are many different ways to protect and assert your rights, including:

• Copyright;


• Trademarks;


• Patents;


• Passing-off actions;


• Registered Design Rights;


• Unregistered Design Rights.

There are special rules and procedures both for registering your rights and bringing an action against people who have infringed these rights, and instructing solicitors who are not specialised in this area will invariably cause more problems for you in the long run.

For more information on how to protect your brand, please contact me using the details below.