» Ludlams Top IP Tips

 

Basic Checks Save Money!

Start up-businesses can save a lot of time and trouble, not to mention money, if they do some basic checks on their proposed trading name and/ or their product and service names before they put them into use.

A quick and free search of the UK Trade Mark Registry website www.ipo.gov.uk will tell you if your chosen name (or a similar one) has already been registered as a trade mark or if an application to register it has been made. This site also provides a good overview of intellectual property rights and regulations.

Knowing Your Potential Market Can Avoid Litigation!

Make sure you complete your trade mark searches before printing up stationery and corporate identity with a new brand to make sure you are not infringing an existing trade mark for your product or service.

Reprints and the potential legal implications can be extremely costly, especially during the start-up phase of a business.

Make Protective Domain Registrations Where Possible.

Register your web domain name as soon as you can. The process is relatively cheap so it’s also worthwhile considering registering not just the site name you want to use but also similar words or abbreviations for your website. This avoids the problem of rival companies registering domain names that use variations of your business name which can mislead customers and threaten your business’ reputation.

Maximise Your Legal Protection.

Register your trade marks to maximise your legal protection. It’s important to remember that you can make money if you do this because you are not only entitled to costs and damages if a third party infringes those rights, but you may also be in a position to grant a licence for future use by the third party.

Know What Legal Rights You Have and Use Them Effectively.

Make sure you use the ™ and ® notices correctly on all your brand names. Some rights exist “for free” such as copyright and common law rights for trade marks. So you should use the © and ™ notices wherever your copyright works and trade marks are reproduced. If you have registered your trade mark then you can use the ® notice.

Free Marketing!

Get free publicity for your brand by making sure your licence agreements require your licensees to print on all your licensed products, or their labels, the words “used under licence from [YOU]”.

Keep Records to Protect Your Unregistered Rights.

When it comes to copyright works, always include the © notice and date on which your work was originally created, and post yourself a copy of the original, dated, signed work and keep it somewhere safe.

Don't Forget Design Right Protection.

Design rights can be obtained for designs that are ‘novel’ and have ‘individual character’. Sometimes a design right registration can be obtained for your trade marks. This can be beneficial as it gives you an additional monopoly right for the outward appearance of the design and costs very little to do.

Make More Money From Your Design Work.

As with trade marks and copyrights, a design right not only prevents other people from using your design, but also allows you to sell or licence the design to other parties.

Maximise Your Income From your IP Assets.

Certain design rights may exist automatically without registration being necessary, but this does not mean you can not require a licence fee if a third party wishes to use your design. You can.

Patents and Secrets.

BEWARE! If you disclose your idea for an invention without requiring the recipient of your idea to sign a confidentiality agreement you could lose the right to get patent protection. If you work on your invention in a publicly accessible place – which would include your garden shed – you may lose the right to get patent protection. Make sure you speak to an IP specialist before you speak to anyone else about your idea, to ensure that you can get all the IP protection available. Get a confidentiality agreement or “non disclosure” agreement (“NDA”) in place before you disclose.

© 2007 SARA LUDLAM www.ludlams.co.uk