“Protecting your brand” was the subject of a Howes Percival LLP seminar in Norwich recently. The firms Intellectual Property experts Matthew Talbot and Hannah Steggles talked through the steps a company can take to protect its brand name and other intellectual property.

As well as defining what is meant by a brand and examining their value to organisations, the seminar explored the legal protection afforded company names, domain names, registered trade marks and registered designs.

It also looked in detail at the new protection under the 2006 Companies Act which came into force on 1st October 2008 to stop opportunistic registrations. The session looked at the new Company Names Tribunal process with the example of the case brought by The Coca Cola Company in respect of Coke Cola Limited. In that case – the first to be brought to the Company Names Tribunal - the adjudicator ruled in favour of The Coca Cola Company forcing the respondent to change its name.

The seminar then focused on each aspect of the brand starting with the company name and examining why and how it can be protected. For domain names the session considered such topics as “cyber squatting”, “typo squatting”, “domain slamming” and “frontrunning” as well as looking at the issues surrounding the unauthorised use of trade marks as keywords or metatags.

Finally the session looked at the benefits of having a registered trade mark or registered design and defending it. The advantages include;

• The possibility of affording the owner a monopoly
• Operating as an active deterrent to competitors
• Creating tools to seek damages from infringers plus criminal damages
• Creating value for companies as assets

If you missed this seminar, but have issues with intellectual property, trademarks and brand protection Howes Percival LLP’s experts could well help.

Matthew Talbot specialises in intellectual property litigation including disputes involving infringement of trade marks, copyright, design rights, patents and domain names. He has made numerous UK and European trade mark applications on behalf of organisations wishing to protect their company names, trading names and branded products. He has successfully acted on behalf of claimants against Kraft Foods plc, Nestle and Adams Childrenswear and in defending clients in cases brought by Adidas, Puma, Lacoste and Microsoft.

Matthew Talbot acted for the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie Association in their successful high profile legal battle with food giant Northern Foods. Last year, together with Hannah Steggles, he won a legal victory for Norfolk based craft and hobby manufacturer Kitfix Swallow Group over the company’s Sequin Art trade mark.