Hints, Tips and Tales #13: When a Design Trademark Is Just as Powerful as a Patent
My neighbour reminded me of something the other day that, if I’m honest, I’d completely forgotten. That moment when a design trademark can be almost as powerful as a patent. Now, patents, if you don’t already know, are incredibly powerful business assets. They protect inventions and technical innovations, but they come with a catch. They […]
International Branding 101: A Lake Como Lesson
Whilst I was in Lake Como this weekend for my cousin’s stunning wedding, I spotted this in a vending machine on the street. Yes, that’s a condom brand and yes, it’s called “Retard.” Now, linguistically, it makes sense. In Italian, French, and Spanish, it means “to delay” or “to slow down,” referencing the product’s numbing […]
Hints, Tips and Tales #12: We Dropped a Bollock with Our WhatsApp
It may be bold but as a founder who is committed to sharing his business journey, I think it’s important that The Trademark Helpline share not just our wins, but our mistakes too, because let’s be honest, you learn more from the bumps in the road than the smooth journeys. Today’s story is about one […]
Are You Spending Too Much Time on the Small Stuff?
The Golf Ball Theory – A Simple Way to Prioritise Your Time A well-known analogy explains how we choose to prioritise our time and energy. A man stood in front of a group with an empty jar. He filled it with golf balls and asked, “Is it full?” The group answered, “Yes.” Then, he added […]
Hints, Tips & Tales #11 – Artificial Intelligence In 2024 – What I’ve Learned So Far
At the end of the financial year, I attended a conference where a well-known investor from BBC’s Dragon’s Den gave a talk on AI. Unlike many people in the room, I was already on the path to embracing AI. As the Dragon rightly said, think of AI as a ship leaving a port. You and […]
Hints, Tips and Tales #10 – The Path to Passion
The Story After helping my client navigate a trademark opposition successfully, it became clear that I couldn’t have any more clients to face such issues. Promoting trademarks to my existing clients initially seemed like selling another service rather than protecting their brands. I therefore created The Trademark Helpline to not only support my existing client […]
Hints, Tips and Tales #9 – The Trademark Helpline Trigger
The Story When I started my new digital marketing business, I quickly landed larger clients with decent budgets. One of these clients was about to launch a new website with a new brand when they received a letter from a company in Dorset claiming trademark infringement. Initially, I had no idea what a trademark was […]
Hints, Tips and Tales #8 – The Impact of the Credit Crunch
The Story In 2017 a mix of naivety, flattery, a lack of experience and a bit of greed led me to merge my business with three other people aiming for a significant earn-out. For those unfamiliar, an earn-out means you get paid based on the business’s performance after selling. Unfortunately, six days after signing away […]
Hints, Tips and Tales #7 – The Tale of an Unexpected Turn
The Story You may or may not know that my background is in Financial Services, Sales, and Marketing. I am most well-known for my work in supporting financial adviser and legal claims businesses. People often wonder why I created The Trademark Helpline when I had no experience in trademark law. The answer is simple: I […]
Hints, Tips and Tales #6 – A simple change with big results
The Story In our experience, we found that a simple change in our outreach strategy led to a dramatic increase in responses for UK Trademark Registration. Initially, we would email clients once about their trademark renewals. When we started sending a follow-up email one week later, our response rate skyrocketed. Here is a very quick […]