Supermac’s Beat McDonald’s at the UK Registry. Here’s What That Says About Names That Look Too Similar
Most people worry about someone copying their name. Far fewer worry about the opposite, that their own name might be a bit too close to somebody else’s, and that the somebody else might be very large indeed. It’s one of the more uncomfortable questions I get asked, usually quietly, near the end of a call. […]
Jersey Just Dropped Out of UK International Trademark Registrations: It’s a Small Change That Makes a Bigger Point
On 1 August, Jersey quietly stopped being covered by the United Kingdom designation of an international trademark registration. If that sentence means nothing to you, that is genuinely fine, and it may well mean you have avoided the problem it describes. But it is worth two minutes of your time, because the change is a […]
Scam Warning: Trademarkium, Have You Received a “UK Registration Documentation” Email?
We were recently notified of a trademark warning email doing the rounds, which was brought to our attention by a very astute Superintendent Minister of a London based Methodist church, who suspected something was amiss due to the opening language of the email and the poor formatting of the image based signature. The email came […]
Scam Warning: MA & Co Law, Have You Received a “Legal Notice on Business Name and Domain Rights Conflict”?
One of our clients has received another trademark warning email. This one is slightly different because there appears to be a genuine regulated firm called MA & Co Law Ltd. That does not mean the email is genuine. In fact, that is exactly why this type of correspondence can be so dangerous. A business owner […]
Trademark Decisions Are Business Risk Decisions: Lessons from 4,170+ UK Registrations
A PR agency recently asked our founder, Jonathan Paton, a deceptively simple question: after all this time in trademarks, what is the one thing that stands out? His answer, after seventeen years and more than 4,170 UK trademark registrations, was not about case law or filing tactics. It was this: the commercial decision outweighs the […]
First to File vs First to Use: The Question Every Brand Owner Should Ask After Anthropic v Abnormal AI
There is a big difference between owning a brand name in your head and owning it on the trademark register. The dispute between Anthropic, the company behind Claude, and Abnormal AI is a live, real world example of what that difference can cost, and it answers a question we hear from business owners every week: […]
When Your Competitor Copies Your Logo: The Anthropic v Abnormal AI Case
A competitor copied Anthropic’s logo and got to the trademark office first. What the Anthropic v Abnormal AI logo trademark infringement case teaches every business about brand protection and filing early.
Scam Warning: Knighton Legal Services – Have You Received a “Legal Notice on Business Name and Domain Conflict”?
One of our clients recently received another trademark warning email — and this one is worth writing about, because the client actually replied. That meant we could see not just the first approach, but what happened next. The email came from an address on the domain notice.knightonlegalservices.co.uk, under the subject line “Legal Notice on Business […]
Should You Trademark Your Company Name? The Lesson Behind the “1587 Prime” Steakhouse Dispute
Somebody asked me yesterday, “should I register my company name as a trademark?” You might imagine my immediate answer would be a straight yes. It wasn’t. When it is worth trademarking your name My answer was that you should definitely look at whether you can trademark your name if: You have a name, logo or […]
Scam Warning: Trademark Center UK, Have You Received A “United Kingdom Brand Registration Profile” Email?
One of our clients forwarded us another trademark warning email this week. This time it came from a company calling itself Trademark Center UK, under the subject line “United Kingdom Brand Registration Profile”. Their message to us was refreshingly simple: “Looks like spam, should I ignore?” Yes. But I want to walk through why, because […]