Intellectual property: Future-proofing your brand

At Birkett Long, we are lucky enough to be able to work with some very well-known brands. Some of them are almost as old as the firm itself, while others are recognised in households across the world. 

Yet the fortunes of a given brand can ebb and flow. Whilst few can claim to predict market trends or social mores with any degree of accuracy, we can provide a firm foundation on which to build and work with you to keep you on an even keel for years to come.

When creating a new brand it is very easy to think with the heart, to the exclusion of other considerations – the launching of a product range is as likely as not to be driven by passion and excitement as it is by strategy. 

As such, you might settle on a word or logo style because it just feels right or that it in some way embodies your passion. What you might not realise is that brands are laden with intellectual property rights – many registered but some also unregistered and so harder to spot – and that your branding choices will need to weave between these established interests in order to establish a unique space within the constellation of other brands in the field. 

If you can’t claim such a territory, you risk major problems at a later stage – problems which may include being sued for trade mark infringement or being prevented from using your brand, which may be well established by the time the problem arises. 

Whilst it is very easy to form an emotional attachment to your own brand early, it is best to be at least part-rational to begin with, in order to avoid a greater upset further down the line – not to mention the resources wasted in building a brand twice.

Planning is, therefore, the key; but that does not mean that you cannot dream big at this stage. 

When we conduct pre-filing searches for you relative to a new brand, we will want to know not only that you are interested in starting in the UK, but also where you aim to expand to, in order to build that into our filing strategy. 

We look to check all major markets of interest to you when undertaking these searches – not just the domestic market – in order that you make a choice which will not be fettered by an already existing trade mark in another jurisdiction when you come to expand. Equally, when subjected to rigorous enquiry, an assumed obstruction already spotted can be unmasked as a paper tiger.

A useful trick in international trade mark filing is to utilise something called a priority right, which allows you to file in a first country on a first date – say Valentine’s Day – and then file in secondary countries up to six months later (which would be 14 August) but claiming the date of filing of the first application for the secondary applications. 

This enables you to spread costs and also to pursue multinational filing strategies without fear that someone will file something which blocks you in the interim period in one of your secondary target countries.

We also try to help you with future-proofing the mark itself – both in terms of the scope of goods and services which we recommend and also in terms of the mark itself; we want not only to protect your brand but also to assist you in occupying a space sufficiently broad to provide an impediment to competition – so when your brand becomes a world-beater (which happens more often than you might think!), you will have something with the capacity to dissuade the casual copy-cat.

Birkett Long loves working with passionate brand-builders; we would be delighted to chat with you about how we might help you with your brand planning and trademark strategy.