As your business grows, if all is going well, the value of your brand will increase, too. Your name, logo, and reputation are all assets that set you apart, help you get recognised, and empower you to compete in your chosen markets. Brand protection for businesses is vital, yet many companies start their growth journey overlooking a key legal tool: trademark protection.
Whether you’re expanding into new markets, attracting investors, or building customer loyalty, securing your intellectual property (IP) is essential. This guide shares the benefits of protecting your business legally, and explains when brand ownership legal advice from a specialist trademark solicitor might be helpful.
Why Trademarks Matter When Growing a Business
Intellectual property for scaling companies can seem daunting, but it needn’t be overly complex. A trademark is simply a tool that protects a business asset that carries commercial weight, namely, your brand. A registered trademark gives you exclusive rights to use brand identifiers in chosen regions and marketplaces, which can prove vital for a growing business. It’s impossible to imagine a world where Coca-Cola didn’t own its name or logo, for example. It’s hard to imagine any global brand thriving without trademark protection. Of course, it’s worth remembering these brands were small once. Legally protecting their branding through trademarks has played a key role in all their successes.
Trademarks Build Brand Value And Investor Confidence
For growing businesses, registered trademarks provide clarity and confidence for a range of audiences. A well-managed, protected brand is attractive to customers, lenders, potential investors, and their representatives. Establishing your brand as protected, distinct, and strategically managed is typically considered a welcome sign of long-term stability. A protected logo and company name allow customers to identify you and your products and services quickly and with confidence. If you’ve worked hard to build trust and loyalty amongst customers and attracted investors, why let competitors replicate you?
Real Risks Of Leaving Your Brand Unprotected During Growth
Without formal protection, your brand remains vulnerable. Competitors could use confusingly similar names, logos, or taglines, diverting customers and potentially damaging your reputation.
The legal principles of “Passing off” exist in the UK law, but they offer limited protection. To succeed in any claim of passing off, you must prove the offender’s intent to misrepresent themselves and cause damage. It offers little if any protection if the breach is coincidental, for example. Fighting a claim of passing off which can be time-consuming and expensive. Without trademark protection, it may be better to rebrand than go to court. Having invested in your reputation as you grow, it can be galling to have to start from scratch again.
Getting trademark and brand ownership legal advice from day one gives you enforceable rights, significantly reducing the risk of growth stalling or even hitting the brakes altogether.
What You Can Trademark In The UK: Names, Logos, Slogans, And More
As your business grows, your brand identity becomes one of your most valuable assets. The term brand identity is a catch-all that has grown in scope as our understanding of customer behaviour has developed. However, in trademark terms, brand identity covers a range of elements that set your business apart from competitors. You should trademark anything that you’ve used to create recognition in your market.
A UK trademark can protect a broad range of brand elements provided they are distinctive and not merely descriptive. A descriptive element describes what you sell or do, such as ‘Fresh Coffee’ or ‘Management Consultancy’. Generic phrases are difficult to protect. On the other hand, a distinctive brand element is unique and clearly identifies your business as the source of your goods or services. This is likely to be an invented word or a creative logo that is suitable for trademark protection.
Specific elements you can register include;
- Unique Business Names
- Product Names
- Service Descriptions
- Logos & Visual marks
- Slogans or Taglines
- Distinctive packaging or shapes
- Sound Marks (like jingles)
Examples of trademarking in action include the Coca-Cola bottle shape, Nike’s ‘Tick’ logo and Just Do it slogan, the London Underground roundel shape, and the Intel processor startup sound familiar when you start your PC.
Only a Registered Trademark denoted with an R symbol gives you legal ownership and exclusive use of the mark in selected market categories. A UK Registered Trademark stops others from using similar branding elements without requiring you to prove reputational harm. By contrast, unregistered rights rely on common law “passing off” protection.
When to Register a Trademark
The best time to register your trademark is early in the life of your business. In an ideal world, you would register your trademarks before any brand elements enter the public domain. Once your name, logo, and products appear online, they become visible to competitors who may wish to imitate them. Acting early ensures you have the exclusive right to use your chosen identifiers and prevents costly disputes later.
However, in reality, it’s likely that trademarking will be an ongoing process as you scale up. As you launch new products, enter different markets, or attract investment, you might need additional or amended trademarks. It is essential to continually review your trademark protection to check that it covers new activities. Many scaling businesses discover too late that their protection hasn’t kept pace with their company’s growth, with serious and potentially costly consequences.
The Trademark Registration Process
In the UK, trademarks are registered through the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO). Registration begins with a comprehensive search of current trademarks to check whether similar marks or elements already exist. This search activity helps you avoid conflicts and gives you confidence that your mark is genuinely unique.
Next, you’ll need to prepare your application carefully, specifying the goods or services your mark will cover under the UK classification system. The UKIPO will examine your application for eligibility. If it accepts your proposed trademark, it will publish examples in your official journal for a two-month period. This allows third parties to review your suggestion and oppose it if they think it contravenes their protection. If no objections arise, your brand element becomes trademarked, granting you ten years of protection, renewable indefinitely.
If you plan to expand internationally, you may wish to consider extending protection through the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) or the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO)’s Madrid Protocol, which allows you to apply for global protection.
It might be worth chatting with an experienced trademark solicitor at this time, as they can help ensure the registration process goes smoothly and avoid common pitfalls. This is especially true if you’re attempting to register a broad range of brand elements across a number of market sectors.
How to Enforce Your Trademark
A trademark doesn’t, of course, guarantee you’ll be infringement-free. Even if the intention is not malicious, it is possible that an organisation may use your trademark inadvertently. Many businesses choose to use professional watch services or rely on a trademark solicitor to track new filings that might conflict with their rights. However, ultimately, the onus is on your organisation to spot such occurrences. If an infringement occurs, a measured response is essential. Your solicitor can issue cease and desist letters or negotiate a settlement, which is often sufficient to bring the matter to a close without resorting to formal proceedings before the UKIPO or the courts.
Trademarks in the UK must be renewed every ten years. Missing a renewal deadline will lead to your rights lapsing, leaving your brand exposed, especially if you’ve expanded or diversified. It is all too easy in an exciting environment of change and expansion to let trademark issues lapse. They may even become perceived as a barrier to moving quickly, yet more paperwork to fill in. This is a risky way to look at your business. In our experience, time spent gaining trademark protection is always a wise investment.
How to Enforce Your Trademark
A trademark doesn’t, of course, guarantee you’ll be infringement-free. Even if the intention is not malicious, it is possible that an organisation may use your trademark inadvertently. Many businesses choose to use professional watch services or rely on a trademark solicitor to track new filings that might conflict with their rights. However, ultimately, the onus is on your organisation to spot such occurrences. If an infringement occurs, a measured response is essential. Your solicitor can issue cease and desist letters or negotiate a settlement, which is often sufficient to bring the matter to a close without resorting to formal proceedings before the UKIPO or the courts.
Trademarks in the UK must be renewed every ten years. Missing a renewal deadline will lead to your rights lapsing, leaving your brand exposed, especially if you’ve expanded or diversified. It is all too easy in an exciting environment of change and expansion to let trademark issues lapse. They may even become perceived as a barrier to moving quickly, yet more paperwork to fill in. This is a risky way to look at your business. In our experience, time spent gaining trademark protection is always a wise investment.
When to Seek Professional Advice
While it’s possible to manage trademarks independently, letting an experienced trademark solicitor manage the process can help you identify potential conflicts, ensure your mark is distinctive and properly classified, and avoid costly pitfalls.
Legal support is especially useful if your business operates across multiple jurisdictions or operates multiple brands. An appropriately qualified trademark solicitor can oversee a potentially complex trademark portfolio, ensuring consistent protection as you continue to scale and diversify. Beyond filing applications, legal representatives can help you respond to infringements by advising on enforcement strategies. At Jamieson Law, our IP team works closely with founders and management teams to develop protection strategies that evolve right alongside your business.
Jamieson Law provides dedicated trademark and IP support for businesses across Scotland and the UK, with expertise in trademark registration, IP protection, and enforcement based in Edinburgh. We are always delighted to help small businesses trademark brand elements and strengthen their intellectual property rights as they grow.
