Food and Drink businesses- How trade marks can benefit you!

With the food and drink industry being one of the biggest in the UK, it is important you can stand out from the crowd and be the ‘go-to’ product for your customers.

The best way to do this is to make your products noticeable. To do this, you need to register a trade mark.

There are a number of varieties of trade marks you can pursue to ensure you have the best protection.

Many businesses have only registered a word only trade mark, however with specific focus on your packaging adding a visual aspect such as a logo will give you the best chance of catching the customers eye.

You also have the opportunity to register a shape as a trade mark but this has given already established companies a bit of a hard time. With Coca-Cola failing to register the shape of their bottle and Nestle failing to register the shape of a KitKat, you need to be sure you will succeed with the shape before building your business around it being protected as a registered trade mark.

By registering a trade mark, you have the power to prevent any third party from copying your mark and damaging your reputation. It will also allow you to pave a niche in the market for your products.

However, you must take care to not firstly use a mark that is already been registered. The Trademarkroom can organise a search for you to ensure there is no unexpected surprises. Also you need to ensure you are only portraying a true image. Therefore, you cannot claim that your products have come from a certain place or are made of certain ingredients. This will only damage your reputation as a bona fide business.

Thinking of a hypothetical supermarket, you need to stand out from your direct competitors to ensure customers favour you over them. By creating a strong brand with a trade mark you can do this.

To kick start your trade mark application, contact The Trademarkroom!

By Ellis Sweetenham