SME’s Register Your Trademark
Young start up businesses have many calls on their financial resources but it is often a good investment for SME’s to register their trademark.
SME’s can do the search and registration themselves for low cost. Alternatively entry level support is available from Trade Mark agents and most Patent agents.
Jaguar and Trademarks
Is it a Car?
Is it a Cat?
Is it a Plane?
No it is Superman pop group with many CD’s to there name
Trademarks are awarded in 35 goods classes and 11 service classes so you need to apply for a class that fits your product. The Intellectual Property Office has a list of classes and web guidance.
I dare not use an image from Nestlé as they are firm in stating ‘All trademarks and other intellectual property appearing on their web-site are owned by Société des Produits Nestlé S.A.’ but I am sure you know which condensed milk I would be talking about. Nestlé have registered the trademark Carnation in 9 of the 46 classes for trademarking in the UK.
Carnation® Footcare as it implies are cornplaster makers par excellence.
Then there is The British National Carnation Society which needs no trademarking but takes me back to the photograph.
Ebay July 2008
All is not doom for the Ebay lawyers as they defend the right to sell designer brands without investigating the provenance. Last week they lost to LMVH in France and are appealing against a $62m fine. LVMH had charged that eBay’s French division hadn’t moved aggressively enough to prevent knockoffs of several of its brands, including Louis Vuitton, Dior, Guerlain, Givenchy, and Kenzo.
Today the Daily Telegraph and New York Sun report the online auction site, has won an important legal victory over Tiffany, which sued it over the sale of counterfeit goods. Following a four-year court action by the jeweller, a New York judge ruled that luxury goods manufacturers must police their trademarks on the Internet and not rely on auctions sites to do it for them.