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Why you shouldn’t overlook the law when branding
December 6, 2012

A lack of attention to the legal side of branding has been the cause of unnecessary setbacks for too many businesses.

There are a large number of trademark infringement lawsuits and the high-profile ones which get into the ne...

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Trade mark registration and brand extension in China
December 11, 2012

China is now the second largest economy on the planet, and has become a key market for businesses worldwide. So, securing ownership of your brand in China should be an important part of your plans. While the Chinese system of...

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Copyright Protection: How to Manage Copyright in an Unregulated Space
December 19, 2012

‘I have endeavoured in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea, which shall not put my readers out of humour with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their houses pleasantly,...

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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 consu...

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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 ...

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Trademarks and Britain Overseas
February 1, 2013

Increasingly, awareness of the value of a brand is leading businesses to protect their names and logos through trademark registration. As registration is territorial in nature, only offering protection in the particular countr...

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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 friend...

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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 smo...

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Intellectual Property Rights and Change Management
July 5, 2013

In any business there will be rules that management and staff need to follow. Some will be more important than others. For example, to safeguard a company’s intellectual property rights, there are a couple of useful procedures tha...

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Using crowdfunding sites could destroy your nascent business idea
July 15, 2013

A recent article by Shireen Smith on the subject of crowdfunding, was published by the Guardian in June, and explains why it is particularly crucial for early stage businesses to protect their intellectual property before pitchin...

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European Trademark Office rules Pinterest doesn’t own rights to its name
January 27, 2014
 
US social network Pinterest has lost grip of its European trademark rights

Social networking giant Pinterest lost its trademark battle against Premium Interest, a London-based news aggregation start-up, following a ruling ...

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Ignorance not Bliss – Avoiding liability for infringing pay-per-click advertising activity
April 16, 2014

Often, businesses treat intellectual property just as something they need to own and register, without giving enough thought to the risk of infringement. Even where the risk of infringement is considered, business owners don’t o...

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