The World Intellectual Property Organisation defines a trade mark as “a sign capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one enterprise from those of other enterprises.” It can be a word (or combination of words) or a logo (think Apple), it can even be a shape (like the Coca Cola bottle) or a sound (like the Direct Line ringtone). However, most people associate trade mark protection with big brands in fields like retail, sport, consumer goods and entertainment. Where a tech company brand comes to mind it’s normally one of the customer-facing multinationals like Apple (again), Microsoft and so forth.
Consequently, we often find that, when looking at the suite of intellectual property rights available and getting particularly excited about patentability, our tech start-up clients tend to overlook trade marks or, at the very least, resolve that the decision and expense can be deferred until they have more funding. After all, if for example a life sciences start-up comes up with a small molecule compound which, in several years’ time, may end up in a pill sold by Johnson & Johnson under their brand, who cares about the start-up’s brand?
However, this attitude can be short-sighted. That start-up may grow to the point that its profile rises and its brand does become important. It may be customer facing from day one, as any business developing an app may be. At the very least it will need to check that its name or logo isn’t infringing someone else’s trade marks even if it doesn’t want to apply for any itself. Like patents, registered trade marks are also identifiable assets which add to a company’s book value and that stands it in good stead when it’s looking for investment or a trade sale.
Of course, the oldest (and probably still largest) jewel in Cambridge’s crown is the University. There are numerous Colleges beneath its umbrella, not forgetting that the city also boasts Anglia Ruskin University and a plethora of academic and language schools. Trade mark protection and a well thought out brand strategy is crucial for all these organisations. In fact, Universities like Oxford or Cambridge have on several occasions been shown to have sufficient reputation in the applicable city’s name that it has been able to block its use or registration by other institutions in the educational field.
Having a trade mark has also proved invaluable for long-established colleges or other institutions who find their name or crest is being used abroad for a lesser-respected academy or summer school without their permission and need to shut it down before they suffer damage from the wider public wrongly assuming it is something to do with them. If the quality of educational output from the culprit is poor, that damage can be catastrophic. Furthermore, an educational establishment producing publications, courses and training methodologies will make it that much harder for them to be ripped off if its brand is all over them.
So any new business looking to protect itself and enhance its value should at least have a conversation with a trade mark attorney. Cambridge is full of famous brands and some of them have been around a long time. After all, as long as it’s unchallenged, kept in use and paid for, a registered trade mark is the only form of intellectual property protection that lasts forever.
