In Short
- A trade mark protects your brand, and infringement can lead to lost sales, reputation damage, and customer confusion.
- To prevent infringement, ensure your trade mark is registered and regularly monitor the market for possible copycats.
- If someone copies your trade mark, consider informal routes like cease-and-desist letters before escalating to court action.
Tips for Businesses
Protect your brand by registering your trade mark and proactively monitoring the market for potential infringement. If your trade mark is copied, gather evidence and seek legal advice before sending a cease-and-desist letter or considering formal legal action. Regularly review your trade mark protection and update registrations as needed.
Summary
This article provides an overview of the steps your business can take when someone copies your trade mark, including preventing infringement, handling disputes, and seeking legal advice. LegalVision, a commercial law firm specialising in intellectual property, can assist with trade mark protection, enforcement, and navigating disputes.
On this page
- Why Are Trade Marks Important for Your Businesses?
- How Can You Build Up Protection from Risk
- What is the Value of Monitoring for Possible Infringement?
- Taking Steps if Your Brand Is Copied
- Taking Action Against Possible Infringement
- The Importance of Legal Advice on the Options
- Key Takeaways
- Frequently Asked Questions
Your trade marks are significantly important for your business’ reputation, goodwill and overall brand value. They can help customers recognise your products or services and associate them with your business. If you fail to protect your brand, it could be at risk.
If another business copies your name, logo, or branding, then your business may:
- lose sales;
- experience reputational harm; and
- cause customer confusion.
You should therefore deal with any potential copying promptly, and you may need to consider a range of issues depending on the circumstances.
This article offers a high-level and simplified introduction on how to reduce risk to your brand and key considerations if someone copies your trade mark.
Why Are Trade Marks Important for Your Businesses?
A trade mark protects your brand and business identity in the market. To have enforceable rights, your trade mark needs to set your goods or services apart from others and be capable of distinguishing your goods or services from those of other businesses.
If someone copies your brand, the impact is often commercially damaging. Customers may purchase from the infringing business, leading directly to lost sales. Consumer confusion can also reduce trust, particularly if the other party provides lower-quality goods or services.
How Can You Build Up Protection from Risk
When you start using a name or logo, your rights are limited. Registering your trade mark is the best way to protect your brand.
Registering your trade mark gives your business exclusive legal rights in the UK in respect of goods and services for which it is registered. It also lets you use the trademark register as proof of ownership. This makes it easier to enforce your rights and strengthens your legal case if someone challenges your use of the brand.
If your business relies solely on an unregistered trade mark, you must bring a passing-off claim, which requires proving:
- goodwill;
- misrepresentation; and
- damage.
This higher evidential burden frequently makes enforcement more complex and costly.
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What is the Value of Monitoring for Possible Infringement?
Registering your trade mark alone is often not enough to protect your brand; you will also need to review the wider marketplace and monitor for possible copying actions.
To identify unauthorised use or similar branding, you should regularly review:
- websites;
- online marketplaces;
- social media platforms;
- business directories; and
- industry-specific sites.
Your business can also monitor new trade mark applications. If another business applies to register a similar name or logo, you may be able to file a trademark opposition during the opposition period before registration.
Taking Steps if Your Brand Is Copied
If someone copies aspects of your trademark or brand, your business must assess whether the marks are similar. A registered trade mark can be infringed where another mark is:
- identical or sufficiently similar; and
- used for identical or similar goods or services in a way that creates a likelihood of confusion.
Your business must compare both the marks and the goods or services offered. Even if two marks appear similar, infringement may not arise if your business and the other party operate in entirely different sectors.
You should identify:
- how the marks look and sound;
- what they mean; and
- the type of goods and services.
A key question is whether the average person would think your business and the other are connected.
You also need to think about the business impact. To weigh up the possible financial damage against the likely legal costs before deciding what action to take, it is important to consider:
- lost sales;
- customer confusion;
- harm to your reputation; and
- loss of brand value.
Taking Action Against Possible Infringement
If you discover a possible infringement, do not proceed to contact the other party right away.
First, review and collect as much evidence as you can and consider your options.
After gathering evidence, you should seek advice from an intellectual property lawyer to assess your legal position and identify any gaps in your protection. They can fully determine whether your business has a viable legal claim and advise on next steps.
Some common considerations will typically include:
Informal Routes
In many cases, a business should begin with a cease-and-desist letter. This letter serves to:
- put the other party on notice of your rights;
- explain the impact on your business; and
- demand that they stop using the mark.
This frequently resolves disputes efficiently and cost-effectively.
You can also seek to ask web platforms to remove infringing content. Many marketplaces will have systems for reporting trademark infringement.
Formal Action
Informal steps do not always work in practice; for example, the other party might ignore your requests. In these cases, you may need to take formal action.
Going to court may be expensive, but it can be a strong route to enforce your rights. If the court finds the other party has infringed your registered trademark, it can order them to stop using it. The court can also award damages or make the infringer give up profits.
Future Protection
If you are able to resolve a problem or dispute around the infringement, you should work on strengthening your protection. Your business should:
- carefully review and update your trade mark registrations;
- file more applications if needed; and
- improve your monitoring processes to help mitigate future risks.
The Importance of Legal Advice on the Options
There are various avenues you can pursue if you find that your trademark is copied. Trade mark disputes need careful legal and business analysis, especially when similarity and customer confusion can cause significant risk for your business.
It is important to take a practical and proportionate approach depending on the specific circumstances at play.
An IP lawyer can review your circumstances and guide you on whether you have a claim and the best way to enforce your rights. They can help to:
- draft strong cease and desist letters;
- file trademark oppositions; and
- assist you with court proceedings if needed.
Seeking legal advice is vital to help you make informed choices about risk, cost and business impact when your trade mark is copied.
LegalVision’s Trade Mark Essentials Guide provides valuable information for any business looking to register or enforce a trade mark.
Key Takeaways
Your trade marks are essential tools to protect your business’ identity, reputation, and value. It is important to take pre-emptive steps to mitigate copying risks, such as monitoring the market for possible infringement. If you find that your trade mark or brand is copied, you should seek urgent legal advice on your options. There are various routes you can consider, depending on the circumstances, which are not one-size-fits-all.
LegalVision provides ongoing legal support for businesses through our fixed-fee legal membership. Our experienced intellectual property lawyers help businesses manage contracts, employment law, disputes, intellectual property, and more, with unlimited access to specialist lawyers for a fixed monthly fee. To learn more about LegalVision’s legal membership, call 0808 196 8584 or visit our membership page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Your business can acquire limited rights through the use of an unregistered trade mark, but registration provides stronger and clearer protection. Registration makes it easier to enforce your rights because you can rely on strong legal protection.
In many cases, this approach can be effective. For instance, the other party may not realise they copied your brand and cease their activities. If they refuse to stop the infringement action, your business may need to escalate to more formal routes, such as court action.
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