Does your product have the right protection?

Higgs & Sons has reported a rise in trade mark registrations over recent months, as companies seek to protect their brand's assets in increasingly competitive markets.

Amy Hylton, a solicitor in the commercial department, said: "We have noticed a significant increase in enquiries for trade mark applications.  It wouleem that local businesses are seeing the importance of a strong brand in these challenging economic times."

Higgs & Sons' findings are reflected in recent UK Intellectual Property Office statistics, which report that the number of trade marks successfully registered had increased from 21,350 in 2007 to 27,962 in 2008. 

Amy also stressed the importance of monitoring and protecting business brands, saying: "Since the Company Names Tribunal was launched in late 2008 to deal with opportunistic company name registration, there have been over 70 decisions requiring a company to change its name. This generally occurs where the purpose of registering a particular name is to cash in on another entity's reputation and goodwill."

Branding can prove to be a very valuable asset to any business.  In a recent Interbrand 2009 survey, the value of the world's top ten brands ranged from $28.4 billion to $68.7 billion, with Coca-Cola, IBM and Microsoft topping the list of the most valuable global brands.

Amy added: "Registering trade marks and keeping an eye on competitors are the first practical steps to take in protecting and developing a business brand. And those brands don't need to be valued at several billion dollars for companies to recognise and experience their significance in terms of business growth and value."

For more information about Higgs & Sons' Commercial department please contact Amy Hylton on 01384 327128.

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