How to avoid trademark infringement

How to avoid trademark infringement

Trademarks are a great way to differentiate one competitor from another- a brand indicator. The longer they are used, the more valuable they may become. Marks can be words, slogans, logos, sounds, three-dimensional symbols or even smells.  Start-ups can help avoid trademark infringement by:

Originality

It may sound obvious but similar trademarks can cause consumer confusion. We may realise that an identical mark in identical goods and services would be considered trademark infringement but a similar trademark can be equally damaging.

For example I wish to apply for the trademark Blue Snapper for my clothing brand. There is currently a trademark already registered for Red Snapper clothing. Will there be infringement? In the UK and EU trademark systems your mark will not be refused just because a similar mark exists. It is up to the owner of the earlier mark to oppose. If they don’t your trademark application will be registered.

You must be aware however that if they do not oppose- you may still be committing trademark infringement. They could apply to invalidate your mark and potentially sue for trademark infringement through the court system.

So back to red and blue snapper! Similar marks, similar goods and services so there must also be risk of confusion. If you think about being in a clothes store and you saw red and blue snapper products together it’s likely to assume that you may think both products originate from the same brand. So although you may feel both marks are different, the dominant part- snapper is identical and this is most likely enough to cause consumer confusion.

Trademark Search and Advice Report

The above is an example of why pre-filing trademark searches are so important. Free searches may not pick this difference up- and an analysis of the results is needed- not just a list of results.

Conclusion

Trademark infringement can happen to any sized business. If you are a start-up it’s really important to protect your brand with a registered trademark, which will allow you and only you to use it!