Most people who start a business unknowingly neglect trademark issues when naming their business and products. Having developed the business concept and planned how they are going to sell their goods or services, most people these days then start to consider a domain name in order to have some sort of web presence. Finding an open domain name is simple, but just because the domain that you want is not registered yet doesn’t necessarily mean that you can do business using that name. For example, just because the domain name iplab123.com is available for registration doesn’t mean that you can legally sell trade mark services under that business name.

The only surefire way to ensure that your business name and domain name do not conflict with any other established businesses is to get a trade mark registration where you intend to do business or where your likely customer base is to be found. If you choose a business or product name that is too similar to an existing trade mark owner, they can accuse of you of violating their trade mark and force you to change your business name.

Whilst you may start off small and decide that the UK is the only place of interest to you, you should consider an EU trade mark which not only covers the UK, but also Southern Ireland and the other 25 current EU member states. For a single fee, your business is then protected throughout the EU. As a direct filer of EU marks and a member of the Association of Representatives at the EU trade mark registry, we are ideally placed to get the right protection for your brand.