Designers and brand consultants need to know the basics of trade mark law to advise their clients on the steps that should be taken to protect their IP. Follow the four steps below to ensure trade mark compliance: 1.    Will the name or logo comply with the trade mark act? If the name is not ‘distinctive’ and is merely descriptive of the goods or services it won’t be accepted as a word mark. Adding distinctive graphical elements can overcome this, but the graphics must not just describe the goods. For instance ‘glamorous lashes’ would be rejected if applied for as a trade mark to cover false ones. Adding a graphic that looked like lashes would be descriptive also, so that could not be registered either. But adding something distinctive, that is not connected to lashes, such as a big tiara, would be distinctive. 2.    How big do the graphical elements need to be relative to the text? This comes up a lot, particularly when a designer wants to add someth...

 We would be delighted to meet you at the Business Startup show ( http://www.bstartup.com/ ) at Earl’s Court, London, on 17 and 18 November 2011, which is free to visit and is perfect for anyone thinking of setting up or expanding their business venture. Head to stand 412 for expert help and guidance on the importance of getting your trade marks in place from the outset.  Trade Mark Direct’s professional specialists will be able to tell you if your company name or brand is available to be trade marked (subject to further manual checks). We strongly advise that all companies should ensure they have the correct trade marks in place from day one, or else they risk their competitors stealing and using their brand name as well as possibly incurring tens of thousands pounds worth of costs required for a re-brand. While trade mark law is complicated, we pride ourselves on our jargon-free, friendly and accessible approach.  Trade Mark Direct is sharing Stand 412 with the British ...

  Here's our advertisement Trade Marks: client manager / associate Trade Mark Direct, a dynamic and innovative young firm which files more UK trade marks than any other, require a client manager / associate to support their growing services around advice, registration and if appropriate contentious matters. Trade Mark Direct are the leading provider of trade mark advice, registration and related services online using unique technologies, web, email and phone to deliver high quality advice and service for competitive fixed fees. We're growing fast, offering new services and will be expanding internationally next year. The role will primarily be responding to enquiries from new and existing clients many of whom are small business owners offering advice on registrability, filing strategies and other actions by phone and email; searches and written opinions: responding to examiners and managing opposition actions. As often the first point of contact with the company for prospective...

  A café in Bonn, Germany, called Apfelkind, is fighting an attempt by Apple to take a bite out of its business. The trouble has arisen from the café’s apple logo, which Apple has deemed too close to its own eponymous logo.  The café’s owner, Christin Römer, has received a letter from Apple’s lawyers arguing that there could be confusion between the logos from the red used, the leaf on the apple stem and the shape.   Ms Römer, meanwhile, has vowed to continue fighting, refusing to withdraw her trademark application to the Munich Patent Office.  The matter is expected to be decided in the coming months by the German trade mark office.  We always advise our clients to do thorough searches to check that their name and logo are not already in use or are not “confusingly similar in the eyes of the consumer”.  The legal test is whether consumers are likely to be confused between any two names or logos.  Or as one judge memorably put it: ‘A moron in a hu...

  It’s been a month since we launched our action to cancel the EU trade mark on  'Keep Calm and Carry On'  and we would like to thank you for all the support we have received.  The media too have enthusiastically picked up on the campaign, which has been covered on the BBC (TV and radio), the Daily Telegraph, Mail, Evening Standard, regional papers and even Time magazine, the US-international magazine. We are fighting this battle at our own cost as we believe that this historic emblem of British resolve in adversity should be free for all businesses to use with no one firm monopolising it unfairly. We are confident we will succeed and, allowing for the rather slow moving cogs of the EU, expect this to be in the next four to six months.  A Keep Calm and Carry On Petition -  http://keepcalmcampaign.co.uk  – is also gaining ground with almost 1000 signatories to date. The Arguments The ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ phrase was in widespread use by many companie...