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The difference between the trade mark symbols ® and ™
Brand owners are often not familiar with the meaning of symbols in relation to their trade marks. The two most commonly-used trade mark symbols, are the letters “TM” in superscript - ™- and the letter R in a circle - “®” - although there are other symbols too, such as...
So, what happens to the EU trade mark if Brexit happens?
The upcoming European Union (EU) referendum is, as expected, dominating the news. The financial markets have been reacted badly to a strong possibility of a British exit, or Brexit, from the EU. There are a lot of questions that have been raised over various matters...
Jose Mourinho’s Trade Mark: Can Companies Own a Name
During the recent announcement of Jose Mourinho being signed as the manager of Manchester United, it was revealed that his name is a trade mark owned by Chelsea. This was reported to be a stumbling block which delayed the signing. This raises the question on whether a...
The Chinese Trade Mark Saga – Facebook Wins Trade Mark Case
While Apple Inc lost its trade mark case in China, Facebook has made headway by winning their trade mark case for its own brand name. A Chinese vegetable oil and potato chips maker called Zhongshan Pearl River registered ‘face book’ in 2014, but the courts in China...
Attention! Changes to Copyright Law Coming Into Practice from July 2016
Generally, a copyright protects musical, dramatic, literary and artistic works. Copyright protection is given to these types of works for a period of 70 years after the death of their creator. This rule comes with an exception! According to section 52 CDPA, the...
Registering your brand name
Registering a brand name can mean two different things. It can be either incorporating your company or registering your trade mark, which would be your brand. The latter is the more common understanding of the sentence ‘registering your brand’. How do you register...
Learning from Apple’s trade mark issues in China
Apple Inc, the tech giant, recently lost a court battle over the use of the word ‘iPhone’ on leather goods in China. A local company called Xintong Tiandi will continue to have the legal right to use ‘iPhone’ on leather goods. As expected, Apple wasn’t happy with the...
Unregistered and registered design rights
Good design lies at the heart of any good business. An excellent design transforms a product into a brand- think Coca-Cola’s distinctively curvaceous bottle or the iPhone’s iconic product design- so it’s important to protect the appearance of your product. The most...
How to deal with a trade mark infringement threat
Building a brand takes a lot of work. After all the effort and hard labour you’ve put into creating your distinctive brand, it’s not pleasant to find out someone is using or manipulating the materials you’ve created. If you’ve registered a trade mark and someone is...
Protection under rules of ‘passing off’
It is often believed that the only way to effectively protect your company’s sign (name, slogan, logo, colour, shapes etc) is to obtain a trade mark registration. This might be true in most cases, but in others it is also or only possible to protect your sign through...
