When you’re tendering for business, applying for a role or asking a regulator for permission, you might hope people look at your LinkedIn profile or your company website. But how people search for you isn’t something you can control. Personal brand protection is about making sure that, wherever they look, they find the right information.
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Three services. Each one stands on its own, and you don’t need a trademark to start.
Personal brand protection
Control your narrative
See what Google, LinkedIn and the AI assistants say about you, and put right what’s wrong or missing. Starts with a free audit.
Optional
Register trademarks
Trademark your name, voice, image or key phrases, so you can shut problems down quickly.
The problem
What do people find when they research you?
For some time now, we’ve all been exposed to malicious negative reviews from disgruntled staff and competitors. Today it’s worse. Somebody can throw up a website in minutes and publish negative content about you, fake news, that you can’t control.
Now AI deepfakes mean people can imitate your likeness and your voice. But even if you’re never the victim of an attack, when people research you they’ll go to search engines like Google, social media like LinkedIn, or increasingly AI, which draws its conclusions from those same platforms.
Where people look
- Search engines, like Google
- Social media, like LinkedIn
- AI assistants, like ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity, which draw their conclusions from both
That creates three problems
How do I control the narrative?
When somebody researches me, how do I make sure they see the right information, aren’t confusing me with somebody else, and can separate fact from fiction?
Our answer: personal brand protection →
How do I shut it down?
If I can’t prevent malicious attacks, accidental passing off or outright fraud, how do I put myself in the strongest position to shut them down quickly and effectively?
Our answer: register trademarks →
How do I know when it matters?
Prevention is better than cure. How do I make sure I’m alerted when a potential issue arises, recognise the genuine threats and take decisive action?
Our answer: Monitoring and Defence →
Why does impersonation feel different when it’s you?
Someone I work with consults for some of the biggest brands and organisations in the world. A while ago, one of her clients took a presentation she had given, turned it into a video, and used AI to clone her voice.
It never became a legal matter, and that isn’t why I’m telling you about it. What stayed with me was how it made her feel. Violated. Used. As though her personal space had been invaded. There is something deeply unsettling about hearing yourself say things you never said, in a room you were never in.
Nobody stole her money. Nobody took her clients. And yet it landed harder than either of those would have.
We spend our working lives protecting business brands. When somebody copies a logo, it’s a commercial problem: lost sales, confused customers, a letter to write. A business can rebrand if it has to. You can’t. When somebody passes off as your business, it hurts. When they pass off as you, it’s personal, and AI has made it cheap and easy.
Why now
Does UK law protect your likeness from deepfakes?
Not directly, at least not yet. There is no standalone image right in English law, and whether passing off, the closest thing we have, covers an AI copy of a person has never been tested in a UK court.
Everyone is waiting on a decision. In March 2026 the government said it would consider whether a new digital replica or personality right would be beneficial. In August, more than 80 actors, narrators and singers wrote to the government asking for a legal right to own their voice. There is still no consultation date, no draft bill, and no way of knowing which way it will go. Other countries are moving: this year a court in Tokyo ruled that cloning a voice actor’s voice breached his publicity rights. The UK has no equivalent right to rule on.
Meanwhile it keeps happening. Martin Lewis took Facebook to court in 2018 over thousands of scam adverts using his name and picture, and in 2023 a deepfake of him promoting a fake Elon Musk investment did the rounds, which he called “an absolutely terrifying development”. In 2024 scammers used a cloned voice and YouTube footage of WPP’s chief executive, Mark Read, in a fake meeting with one of his own senior people. It failed, but his warning to staff says it all: “Just because the account has my photo doesn’t mean it’s me.”
So people aren’t waiting
With no way of knowing how the law will land, the people with the most to lose are using what exists today. They start with what people see when they search for them, and they’re using trademarks to plug the gap where they need a right they can enforce.
- Control your narrative. No trademark needed.
- Register trademarks, if you want a right you can enforce.
- Monitor and defend, if you want somebody keeping watch.
Use one, two or all three. Each works on its own.
Problem 1 · Personal brand protection
How do you control the narrative when somebody researches you?
The heart of personal brand protection. No trademark needed.
Before anyone awards you the contract, offers you the role or grants the permission, they look you up. If what they find is a namesake, an old story, a fake account, a malicious review or a website you’ve never seen, that’s your first impression, and you weren’t in the room for it.
This is what personal brand protection does:
- Shows you yourself the way a stranger sees you, on Google, on LinkedIn and in the AI assistants.
- Finds the sources the AI assistants are reading about you, which are often not the ones you’d expect.
- Spots fake profiles, confusion with somebody else, or anything you’d rather wasn’t attached to your name.
- Fixes the gaps, so you’re found, described correctly, and fact is easy to tell from fiction.
Send us your LinkedIn profile. If you don’t use LinkedIn, send us your name and any social media account that is definitely you, and we’ll audit what Google and the AI assistants say about you, free.
Your free audit shows you
- The first page of Google for your name, as an outsider sees it
- Whether you have a knowledge panel, the information box beside the results
- What ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity say about you
- Which sources they’re drawing on
- What’s missing that would identify you clearly
- Anything attached to your name you’d rather wasn’t there
A written report, usually within two working days. A real person checks the link is you before anything is searched.
If you want to go further, we build and maintain the record those tools read, with our specialist partner, Ascribed: a page at your own web address, a Wikidata entry with sources, consistent profiles everywhere and published articles. Set-up is £3,500 plus VAT. The £1,000 a month management only starts once a knowledge panel actually appears for your name, and you can cancel any month. Nobody can promise Google will show a knowledge panel, and we don’t.
Problem 2 · Optional: register your trademarks
How do you put yourself in the strongest position to shut it down?
A separate service. You don’t need it for personal brand protection.
You can’t prevent every malicious attack, accidental passing off or outright fraud. What you can do is make sure that when it happens, you hold a right that platforms, marketplaces and domain registrars act on, and act on far faster than a name you simply use. A registration turns “please remove this” into “this infringes my registered right”. With the law still undecided, it’s how people are plugging the gap.
Can you trademark your own name, face or voice?
Yes, in the right circumstances. Register anything you don’t want other people using:
Your name
The name people book, hire and recommend, in the classes that match how you earn money.
Your voice
The UK IPO has accepted sound files since 2019, so a short clip of your voice can be filed.
Your personal image
A photograph or likeness, the way Luke Littler registered his face.
Your personal brands
A nickname, a podcast, a course, a book series, anything that trades on you.
Taglines and key phrases
The line people associate with you, like a catchphrase you open every talk with.
Your signature
Used on products, prints or merchandise, a signature can be registered too.
The people with the most to lose are already doing it
UK, sport
Luke Littler’s company has held UK registrations for LUKE LITTLER and THE NUKE since 2024, and his lawyers got a Warrington bar to drop the name “Nuke’s Sports Bar”. His face was registered on 19 June 2026 (UK00004350490).
UK, sport
Cole Palmer’s company holds UK registrations for COLD PALMER, COLE PALMER and his shivering goal celebration, registered as a motion mark (UK00004129108).
US, voice
Taylor Swift’s company applied in April 2026 to register two clips of her speaking voice and a photograph. They’re applications, not registrations. Why it matters to UK brand owners. And Matthew McConaughey has registered “Alright, alright, alright” in the US, including as a sound mark.
You don’t need to be famous to do the same. If there’s money attached to your name, through speaking, consulting, books, courses, products or advice, a trademark is the tool that exists today. Each one is registered in classes, the categories of goods and services you actually trade in, and the UK IPO fee starts at £205 for one class, applied for online.
We always start with a free search, and we’ll tell you honestly what’s worth protecting and what isn’t before you spend anything on fees.
Book a free call to talk about the options UK trademark registration
What a registration won’t do
- It covers use in business. It won’t stop news reporting, commentary or parody.
- It won’t stop a determined fraudster, but it gets their fakes removed faster and more cheaply.
- Somebody else with the same name can usually still trade honestly under it.
- A face or voice mark protects that image or clip and close copies, not every possible AI likeness of you.
Problem 3 · Optional: monitor and defend
How do you know when there’s a genuine threat?
A separate service. It works with or without a trademark.
Prevention is better than cure. Monitoring and Defence makes sure you’re alerted when a potential issue arises, helps you tell a genuine threat from noise, and helps you take decisive action. That isn’t only people pretending to be you. It’s also people saying things about you that could damage your professional reputation. Monitoring doesn’t need a registration, although having one makes acting on what we find faster and cheaper.
Watch
We keep an eye out
Every month we check the trademark registers, Companies House, new domains, social media, marketplaces and search engines for your name, your face and what’s being said about you.
Alert
You hear about it early
We tell you what we found and whether it’s a genuine threat, and you can see it all, with what we did about it, in your Temmy portal.
Act
We help you put it right
Takedowns of fake accounts, adverts, listings and websites, a letter where one is needed, and a solicitor from our regulated panel only if a matter warrants it.
Proportionate comes first. Most problems are solved with a takedown or a letter, not a court case. Litigation is a tool, not an objective, which is why this costs a fraction of a solicitor’s retainer: monitoring and representation start from £14 a month. If you’re curious how quickly copycats appear, our trademark scams directory shows real firms whose names were lifted by somebody with a domain and an afternoon.
Who it’s for
Who needs personal brand protection?
Founders and directors
When your name is the business, or you’re the one tendering for it, people research you as much as the company.
Consultants, speakers, authors and coaches
People pay for you: your talks, your books, your judgement.
Financial and professional advisers
Regulators, clients and employers all look you up, and trusted names are exactly what scammers borrow.
People applying for senior roles
The interview panel will search your name before they meet you.
Sportspeople and creators
Your name, face and voice are the product, and the easiest things to copy.
Anyone whose name earns them money
You don’t need a household name, just one somebody would find worth pretending to be.
Get started
Start wherever makes sense for you
Most people start with the free audit. Add a trademark or monitoring if and when you need them.
Personal brand protection
Your free audit
Send us your LinkedIn, or your name and a social media account, and see what Google and the AI assistants say about you.
Optional
Register a trademark
Talk through what’s worth registering, your name, voice, image or key phrases, and what it would cost.
Optional
Monitoring and Defence
See what’s already out there using your name, then keep watch from £14 a month.
Search your name on the UK register, free
Personal brand protection questions
Do I need a trademark for personal brand protection?
No. The three services are independent. The free audit, and the work to correct what Google and the AI assistants say about you, needs no registration at all. A trademark gives you a right you can enforce when somebody trades on your name, and Monitoring and Defence tells you when something needs acting on. Most people start with the audit and add the others only if they need them.
What does the free personal brand audit cover?
Send us your LinkedIn profile, or your name and a social media account that is definitely you. A real person confirms it’s you, then we look at the first page of Google as a stranger sees it and ask ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity the same questions about you. Your written report, usually within two working days, shows what they say, which sources they’re reading, what’s missing and anything attached to your name you’d rather wasn’t there.
ChatGPT has got facts about me wrong. Can I fix that?
Not by editing ChatGPT. Nobody can. AI assistants repeat what they find in the sources they read, so the fix is the sources. The audit shows which pages they’re drawing on, which are often old profiles or somebody else entirely. From there we help you build a consistent record they can rely on: your own page, matching profiles, a Wikidata entry and published articles. It takes time to filter through, and nobody can promise exactly what an AI will say, but correcting the sources is what changes the answer.
Someone has set up a fake profile pretending to be me. What can I do?
Screenshot everything, then report it through the platform’s impersonation process straight away. LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X and TikTok all have one, and they’ll usually ask for proof of identity. Warn your contacts, and if money or personal details have been asked for, report it to the police through Report Fraud, the service that replaced Action Fraud. If the profile is trading on your name, a registered trademark gives you a stronger route than an impersonation report alone, and monitoring means you’ll spot the next one sooner.
Can I get negative reviews or fake content about me removed?
Sometimes, and it’s worth being honest about which. A genuine bad review, however unfair it feels, usually stays; the better answer is making sure it isn’t the first thing people find. Fake reviews break the platforms’ own rules and, since April 2025, UK consumer law, so they can be reported. Fake accounts, copycat websites and content using your registered trademark can be taken down. Anything false that damages your reputation is a defamation question, and that needs a solicitor, which we’ll arrange from our regulated panel if it’s warranted.
What is a Google knowledge panel, and can I get one?
It’s the information box that appears beside the results when Google is confident it knows who somebody is: a photo, a short description and links. Google decides when to show one, based on consistent, reliable sources about you, such as Wikidata and well-established profiles. We can build that record with our specialist partner, Ascribed, but nobody can promise a panel will appear, and we don’t. That’s why the £1,000 a month management only starts once one actually does.
I share my name with someone else. How do I stop people confusing us?
You can’t stop them using their own name, and you wouldn’t want the same done to you. What you can do is make sure the record about you is clear and distinct: one consistent description of who you are and what you do across every profile, and sources that separate you from them. The audit flags where you’re being confused with somebody else. If they start trading in your field in a way that confuses your customers, that’s when a registration matters.
How much does personal brand protection cost?
The audit and the first consultation are free. If you want us to build and maintain your record, set-up is £3,500 plus VAT, and the £1,000 a month management only starts once a knowledge panel appears. A trademark is optional: the UK IPO fee starts at £205 for one class, applied for online, plus £60 for each extra class. Monitoring and representation start from £14 a month.
Trademarks, deepfakes and the law
More questions, answered in full
Can I trademark my own name?
Usually, yes, if you use it in business. It’s registered for the goods and services you actually trade in, it has to be distinctive in your field, and somebody else with the same name can usually still use theirs honestly.
Can you trademark your face or your voice?
In the right cases, yes. Luke Littler’s face is a registered UK trademark, and the UK IPO has accepted sound files since 2019. A face or voice mark protects that image or clip and close copies, not every AI likeness of you.
Does UK law protect your likeness from deepfakes?
Not directly. There’s no standalone image right in English law, the government has only said it will consider a new personality right, and nobody knows how that will go. That’s why people are using trademarks to plug the gap.
Will a trademark stop deepfakes and scams using my name?
No, and anyone who says it will is overselling. A registration gives you a right that platforms, marketplaces and registrars act on, so fakes come down faster and more cheaply. Monitoring is what finds them early.
