How to protect your business name and logo

Your business name and logo are the foundation of your brand identity. After working hard to develop your brand, the last thing you want is another person or company copying it. Not only can this confuse your customers, but it also diminishes your reputation and causes financial damage.

So, if you’re wondering how to protect your business name and logo, the UK’s best company formation agent, 1st Formations, explains the options below.

Protect your business name and logo with a trade mark

Trade marks are a common way for businesses to protect their intellectual property. That can be your name, logo, or any other brand element, such as a slogan or colour.

It costs at least £170 to register a trade mark (depending on how many elements you want to register), and the protection lasts 10 years. During that time, you can take legal action against anyone who uses your business name or logo without permission.

Trade marks are useful for unincorporated businesses like sole traders, whose business names aren’t legally protected. They also benefit registered companies who want to protect the logo and other intellectual property.

When you register a trade mark, you should display the ® symbol to indicate that your name or logo is legally protected. This will clarify that it belongs to you and prevent others from using it unlawfully.

The common law of passing off

Passing off is when a competing business ‘passes themselves off’ as yours—intentionally or otherwise—by trading under your business name or logo. It also applies to selling goods or services similar to those of another company, thus deceiving the consumer and causing financial and reputational damage to the original owner.

Effectively, the law of passing off aims to prevent using another party’s intellectual property and protect the public. If you suspect another business is trading under your name or logo, you must sufficiently demonstrate goodwill, misrepresentation, and damage.

However, this law is complex, and these elements can be hard to prove, so generally, it’s not the most reliable way to protect your brand.

Company registration protects your business name

Registering a limited company is one of the easiest and most effective ways to protect your business name. It will be automatically protected by company law, which dictates that every registered company name must be unique and not similar to any other existing one.

This rule prevents the general public from being misled. However, company law does not extend to logos, so a trade mark is also required.

If you have the perfect business name in mind or you currently run a sole trader business and wish to convert to a limited company, use the 1st Formations company name checker to see if your business name is available.

Then, choose your ideal company formation package, provide your company details, and our experts will do the rest. They’ll check your application, submit it to Companies House, and send your incorporation documents to you as soon as they’re ready.

Once your company is incorporated, your registered business name will be protected for your company’s lifetime.

Reserve a business name

If you want to protect your business name but are not ready to start trading as a limited company straight away, you can simply reserve it by making the company dormant.

After receiving your incorporation documents, tell HMRC that your company is dormant for Corporation Tax (CT). You can then file dormant company accounts (along with your annual confirmation statement), showing HMRC that you are dormant.

The company can remain dormant for as long as required, and your registered company name will be protected during this time. However, reserving a business name doesn’t protect your business logo, so we recommend registering a trade mark for this.

Secure a domain name

Whether you’re a sole trader or a limited company, you don’t have immediate rights to a domain name. So, you should secure it to ensure it matches your business name, helping you create a strong brand image.

It’s also worth securing multiple domain extensions, such as .com, .co.uk, and .info. This will ensure that you have all bases covered and that no one else can register your business domain name under a different extension.

Summary

There are several ways to protect your business name and logo, such as registering a trade mark and securing a domain. The law of passing off also offers some protection. However, registering a limited company is the most effective solution.

Register your company with 1st Formations to reserve your business name and enjoy a free domain name with any package. As the UK’s leading company formation agent, getting set up with 1st Formations is quick, easy, and affordable.