Trademarks RevoMark is an intellectual property consultancy specialising
in all aspects of trademark
law. Here are some of the trademark
services we provide:
• General trademark advice
• Assistance and guidance in choosing a good name
• Trademark
searching and availability analysis and reporting
• Devising and implementing brand protection programmes
• Preparing and filing trademark
registration applications on a worldwide basis
• Dealing with registry and/or 3rd party objections
• Opposition proceedings
• Revocation proceedings
• Challenges to the validity of registered trademarks
• Trademark infringement and passing off
• Commercial exploitation (licensing, franchising)
• Assignments (transfer of title) and renewals
• Trademark valuations
• Trademark watching and policing programmes
• Trademark portfolio management
RevoMark is owned and managed by Eugene Pienaar, a
qualified solicitor, who has significant trademarks
knowledge and experience gained from working on the
trademark portfolios for many blue chip companies. RevoMark
is therefore well positioned to provide sound legal,
commercial and practical trademark
advice at affordable prices.
Many entrepreneurs and small business owners erroneously
believe that company and/or domain name registrations
give them registered trademark
rights to the use the name registered. This is not
the position and neither do they provide any protection
against others using your chosen names. The only way
to secure statutory rights to a name is to register
a trademark.
Trademark
registration provides numerous advantages such as:
• Registered trademarks can be used as negotiating
tools in business deals as they can greatly facilitate
the negotiation of licenses, franchises and the transfer
of ownership. In fact the failure to have a registered
trademark can often be a ‘deal breaker’.
• Registered trademark can serve as security for financial
transactions thereby giving the trademark proprietor
more options and greater financial flexibility.
• Registered trademarks are ‘quantifiable’ assets in
their own right thereby commanding a presence in a company’s
balance sheet. They add value.
However, and more importantly, the commercial and
financial consequences in failing to register a trademark
can be extremely detrimental to a company. Here are
merely a few possibilities:
• It could prevent your ability to expand the business
into new geographical regions.
• Unregistered trademarks offer extremely limited protection
(and absolutely no protection at all in circumstances
where no reputation exists).
• If a third party registers your name as a trademark
(before you do) it is possible that the third party
could prevent you using your name altogether (depending
on the circumstances). They could certainly prevent
you from using it outside the area in which you have
a reputation (e.g. if you operate in Bristol you will
not be able to trade in London, for instance, under
the same name (unless you are able to prove that your
reputation extends to the London area).
Commercially it is very important to protect your trademark.
It is the one feature that distinguishes your company
and the goods or services you provide from those of
your competitors. Failure to register a trade mark exposes
a company to unnecessary risk and for the sake of a
few hundred pounds (i.e. the cost of registration) the
risk is not worth taking.
Many companies tend to be reactive when obtaining trademark
protection and only seek advice after problems have
arisen. This is a very dangerous strategy which can
result in their trademark rights being severely curtailed
and potentially even removed altogether (not to mention
the unnecessary legal costs that may be incurred).
Be proactive and register your trademark without delay.
For advice on trademark registration or on how to best
protect your trademark/brand call us for a free informal
discussion or email us with your query.
www.revomark.co.uk
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