A trademark is a powerful asset for any brand. However, this valuable protection comes with responsibilities, so that if you don’t use the mark in the way required by the law, you stand to lose it.

This is the approach of the law because the...

Naming is a surprisingly complicated thing to do so I’m not surprised there are so many disputes around names.

Some people believe you need to invent a new word to be able to trademark it – that ordinary dictionary words may not...

Should you register your trademark yourself?

I regularly meet businesses that have either registered their own trademark or who tell me they intend to do so.

While I tend not to comment individually the fact is, I’ve never come across a...

There’s a very simple action you should take to protect your customer list.

Judging by the list of steps I found on the search engines, the action I have in mind isn’t well known.

This is what the search engine suggested.

1. Understand...

Today is the day after the General Election in the UK, and Labour has won.

One of the missions of this Government is to make the UK one of the fastest-growing major economies within 5 years. If that turns to reality and you hope to surf the wave...

Designing a business correctly involves understanding how intellectual property impacts it.

Far better to get rounded advice early on so you take the right steps to appropriately protect the business, than to reach decisions alone and then seek...

Today’s podcast interview is with Tom Gardner, a serial entrepreneur, who formerly worked at McKinsey.

During the interview, we discuss the various ways in which he tackled business design in several business ventures he’s initiated.

I...

Visual identifiers are signs that ensure our brands are noticed, remembered, and bought. 

In a competitive market it is important to differentiate our business to stand out from competitors. However, I would argue that it’s not...

Someone asked about the dispute between Apple Corp and Apple Computers which reminds me of an aspect of names to mention.

While names may be shared provided two businesses are in non-overlapping industries, Apple was problematic from the outset....

A start-up wonders why they’ve received a ‘cease and desist’ letter from Hugo Boss. Surely, they can't stop us using the word ‘boss’ they say?

Well yes they can. 

It may be an ordinary word but Hugo Boss used it...

Names that are distinctive in not describing the product or service are always the best choice from a legal perspective.

So, I wondered how a sandwich outlet like Subway managed to come up with such a distinctive name.

The business was founded in...

People often wonder why register a trademark.

They assume they automatically get the rights to use their name, so surely trademark registration is just a nicety that needn’t concern them till they're established?

It’s a cost people...