In 2012 a shocking number of businesses, around 90% [1]  of SMEs, are putting their livelihoods at risk by trading online without a trade mark, estimates Trade Mark Direct, the UK’s leading trade mark company.  It can cost a company thousands to re-brand.  The cost to Frazer Evett, from Christian Clothing Alliance, who was forced to re-brand his company, as another company already owned the name, was £27,941.  “This included stock we couldn’t sell, employing a designer to re-brand, re-working the website, re-ordering stationery, loss of materials and lost sales while rebranding,” said Frazer Evett.   Only 30,270 [2]  trade marks were registered in 2010 and this is despite over 400,555 new companies being registered [3]  (financial year 2010 – 2011) and as some will be for well-established companies it shows that far less than 1 in 10 new companies are trade marking their business name.     “Trading online without a trade ...

  Barely a day goes by without Apple Inc. taking on another business in a corner of the world to protect its brand. This time its focus is directed at New Zealand and a Kiwi entrepreneur, Hayden Crowther, who sells ‘driPhone’ smart phone cases.  Mr Crowther has been selling the driPhones, waterproof and shockproof covers, since May last year and in September 2011 applied to trade mark it.  Having almost reached the final hurdle, Apple at the last minute put in a request to have more time to consider objecting to the trade marking of the driPhone.  "My product is driPhone, not iPhone, and they are ... just trying to scare me," said Mr. Crowther, who is taking legal advice As Apple flexes its muscles and ponders its next move, it’s hard to call the final outcome but as always our advice is to steer clear of brand names that can be associated with existing brands. Think about creating a made-up name, as this is one of the easiest ways to a successful trade mark applicat...

  If you were one of the thousands of parents across Britain who bought a Tranformers Optimus Prime this Christmas you might be interested (or not!) to know that its toy maker, Hasbro, has filed a suit against computer company, Asus, for alleged trademark violation regarding the use of the name ‘Transformer Prime’ for its latest tablet pc. Hasbro could be in for a battle, greater than any featured in the Transformer storylines, as trade mark law is made up of different classes which apply to certain categories of product so two companies can own the same trade mark as long as they are registered in different product categories. Hasbro, however, refutes this and is arguing that the Transformers brand is expanding and they need to protect it through a wider array of goods (hmmm not so good news for our pockets then..).  It is also arguing that Asus is merely leveraging off its brand for its own ends. Big brands, like Hasbro, think nothing of coming after companies they believe a...