August 2005 - Small Business News

Are You at Risk of Identity Loss?
 

For a growing business, there are few more important things than your company name; yet a huge number of small businesses are failing to protect their name properly, and are at risk of legal action.

A survey by the Patent Office shows that more than 80% of SME’s have not registered their business name as a trademark. Despite this, 55% of entrepreneurs believe they had protected their name enough; meaning that a large number mistakenly believe that simply registering at Companies House will completely protect your name.

The research was conducted as part of the Patent Office’s intellectual property awareness campaign for businesses called "What is the Key?"

Lawrence Smith-Higgins who runs the campaign says: "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. 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."

Visit our free article An Overview of Trademarks here.

Visit our free article How to Avoid Trademark Problems here.