According to the Patent Office, 55% of
the entrepreneurs surveyed believe that they have protected their
name enough, 44% think that they do not have enough protection, and
the remainder do not know.
Many mistakenly believe that registering their name at Companies
House alone is sufficient to protect the firm name.
"It is essential to protect the name that you trade under as a
registered trade mark. This gives you exclusive rights to use that
name in your business area,” said Lawrence Smith-Higgins, head of
Awareness Information and Media at the Patent Office.
“Companies are potentially putting themselves at risk of legal
action from another company if they haven’t checked whether their
name already belongs to someone else. It’s not a risk worth
taking," he warned.
The research was carried out as part of the "What is the Key?"
campaign, launched by the Patent Office, The Chartered Institute of
Patent Agents and the Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys in June
last year in an effort to encourage business owners to profit from
their IP assets.
