Some infringements are easy to miss. For Curranz, one was sitting in a web address.

Curranz is the brand name of a range of health food supplements, sold by Health Currancy Ltd. Its director, Fleur Cushman, came to The Trademark Helpline in early 2014 to protect the name.

Protecting the name

We filed a UK trademark application for CURRANZ on 21 January 2014. It covers health food supplements in class 5, including vitamin and mineral supplements, food supplements for nutritional purposes, slimming capsules and diet capsules.

The application was published for opposition in February 2014, and CURRANZ was registered on 25 April 2014.

Keeping watch

A registration gives a brand owner rights. Monitoring tells them when someone else comes too close. Curranz added our trademark monitoring service, and the very first report turned up a problem.

A branding infringement had been committed by the company’s former supplier, and it involved a .co.uk domain name.

A complaint to Nominet

We advised Curranz on the course of action to take: a complaint to Nominet, which administers all .co.uk domain names. This meant the matter could be dealt with through Nominet’s own process rather than through the courts.

Nominet ruled in Curranz’s favour. It found that the domain was an abusive registration, and the domain was transferred to Curranz.

What Curranz said

“We discovered we had a branding IP infringement, committed by our former supplier in the first report that was issued by the Trademark Helpline Monitoring service. The Trademark Helpline were excellent and advised us on the course of action to take, by laying a complaint with Nominet, who administers all the .co.uk domain names. They ruled in our favour, that it was an abusive registration, and as a result, the domain was transferred to us. Curranz would definitely recommend The Trademark Helpline Monitoring service, particularly if you operate in a highly competitive and crowded market place.”

Fleur Cushman, Director, Curranz

Update, January 2024: renewed

A UK trademark lasts ten years and then needs renewing. The CURRANZ registration reached its tenth anniversary in January 2024 and was renewed. The register now shows it running to January 2034.

Would you know if someone was using your brand online?

In a crowded market, brand misuse can come from people you have worked with as well as from strangers. Our trademark monitoring watches for names that come too close. If a website or domain is the problem, see our website takedown service, and where a firm letter will do, our cease and desist service.

Book a free 15-minute call to talk it through.