Recent Posts

• Online Piracy Doesn’t Hurt Sales… Or Does It?

  May 10, 2013

  London, United Kingdom – 2013, May – An astounding 4.4 million viewers tuned in to watch the premier of the third season of the Game of Thrones, but they weren’t the only viewers watching the show. According to Torrent Freak, approximately 1 million additional viewers also downloaded the show through torrents with up to 160,000 [...]

• TV Show Mad Men faces potentially mad IP battle over photos and likeness rights

  May 1, 2013

  When using photographs or images in a commercial context, getting an IP lawyer to assess the copyright situation is an obvious move. However, as the producers of hit TV show ‘Mad Men’ recently discovered, it may not be enough to check the copyright position.  It may also be necessary to check whether there may be [...]

• Apple granted a trademark over physical layout of the Apple Stores

  April 24, 2013

  Trademarks can protect more than just a brand name or logo. Chocolate maker Cadbury successfully trademarked the shade of purple associated with the brand, while Coca-Cola famously managed to secure a trademark over its iconic Coke bottle. But, in typical ‘think different’ fashion, Apple has now gone a step further, and legitimately trademarked the physical [...]

• Copyright, emulation and software – is imitation not the sincerest form of flattery?

  April 9, 2013

  Software is essential to everyday life, it’s how we carry out research, get our entertainment fix, communicate with each other, manage information, carry out calculations, implement business processes and unleash our creativity.  But what if the software you need is out of reach?  Can you roll your own version of a tool sold by someone [...]

• Licensing- Don’t Risk Losing Your Trademark

  April 2, 2013

  Licensing – Don’t Risk Losing Your Trademark If your business has reached the stage where you are looking to expand abroad or diversify into different markets, licensing your brand could be the ideal way of achieving this. With licensing, it doesn’t matter if you haven’t the staff or the money to fund your expansion.  You license your brand [...]

• Innocent Loses Halo Trademark

  March 6, 2013

  If ever there was an ideal example of the importance of ensuring the right intellectual property procedures are in place, Innocent’s recent trademark difficulties demonstrates it. Despite being one of the UK and Europe’s top smoothie brands, Innocent has lost its distinctive ‘halo’ logo trademark, after its trademark was invalidated due to Innocent not owning [...]

• Do you need to bother with trade marks?

  February 26, 2013

  Since writing my book, Legally Branded, a number of business owners have thanked me for making this fundamentally important subject of intellectual property (particularly trade marks) understandable. Some entrepreneur friends have even  suggested I emphasise the risks, and danger of ignoring intellectual property advice.  However, I’ve always tried to steer clear of scare mongering as a [...]

• Trademarks and Britain Overseas

  February 1, 2013

  There are a variety of ways to protect your trademark further afield, but it is important to appreciate that the scope of a UK trademark may not offer as broad protection as you might expect. While a UK trademark covers England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man, it does not automatically extend to Guernsey, Jersey, the Republic of Ireland or Gibraltar.

• Your Brand and Your Domain Name

  January 18, 2013

  Choosing names that say what your business does on the tin may not be the best approach to choosing domain names online, despite it being an approach many businesses have adopted in the past. Often, it seems like a good idea to follow in the footsteps of those who have gone before, taking what looks [...]

• How To Secure An Unusual Trademark

  January 3, 2013

  Whilst the most common use of trademarks is to legally protect brand names or logos, this is by no means the only way in which a trademark reinforces a brand. Trademarks act to identify the source of a good or service to consumers, and therefore a trademark can cover any aspect of a brand that [...]