Unregistered Trade Mark Rights & Brand Management
Passing Off Lawyers
Unregistered trademark rights accrue by use of a trade mark, whether by sales activity, licensing, marketing and other promotional activity. These activities give rise to protectable goodwill and reputation in the market. The goodwill is owned by the business owner.
Standard brand protection steps results in brand owners’ key trade marks being registered. Sometimes gaps appear in registered trademark protection programmes, whether because business priorities are focused on building the business, or where budgets are not available to properly consider the full extent of available brand protection when the business is at startup stage.
Despite the prevalence of registered rights, unregistered rights can play an all important part in brand protection and infringement of brands in brand management programmes.
Protection of Brands
Brands can be protected by unregistered trademark rights, and come into their own when:
- a product or service, a brand name, logo, words or graphics are uniquely and distinctively associated with a business;
- competitors attempt to design around infringement of the registered trade mark;
- a registered trade mark does not protect all of the goods and services which it should.
Where use of the unregistered trademark by a competitor is likely to cause damage or does cause damage to the brand, the brand rights owner is likely to be able to assert that the competitor is passing itself off as the brand owner.
This brand reputation and awareness can be protected by the law of passing off, to prevent competing businesses engaging in unfair business practices. This law of passing off is power weapon in the armory of brand rights owners to guard against unlawful use of the brand.
Passing Off Legal Advice
Unregistered trade mark rights are available to businesses to protect hard-earned reputation. Our London based passing off lawyers advise on brand protection, enforcement of unregistered business names in brands, products, services and reputation.
London Business Solicitors & Lawyers
Our Solicitors in London assist businesses in the UK and internationally to create options, achieve realistic and attainable goals, and providing guidance to assist decision-making in a commercial context.
For more information, legal advice or to find out more about the legal services we provide, call 020 7353 1770 or contact us online.