Can You Still Use Your Own Name Once You’ve Sold the Brand? The Jo Malone Dispute
Can you still use your own name once you have sold the brand? It sounds like an odd question, but Jo Malone is facing exactly that, and it is a genuinely useful warning for anyone whose business is built around a personal name. What the dispute is actually about Estée Lauder has reportedly brought a […]
Gymshark Just Blocked a Copycat Called ‘GymBull’, and Why That Matters for Smaller Brands
Gymshark started life in a garage in Solihull, and this month it blocked a copycat trademark called ‘GymBull’. The garage bit is the part everyone loves, because Ben Francis was screen printing gym kit in his parents’ garage while working shifts at Pizza Hut, and Gymshark is now one of the biggest brand stories this […]
FIFA Made Levi’s Cover Its Own Stadium, and the Real Flex Was How Recognisable It Stayed
Source – James O’Connor FIFA: “Hey Levi’s, you’ll need to cover your name on Levi’s Stadium to meet our sponsorship rules.” Levi’s: “Sure thing.” It is malicious compliance, beautifully branded, and it is one of the better brand stories to come out of the build up to the 2026 World Cup. For the duration of […]
66,000 Fake Football Shirts Seized in Spain: Why Enforcement Always Comes Back to a Registered Right
More than 66,000 fake football shirts, around 16 tonnes of them, have been seized across Spain in a single coordinated operation as the 2026 World Cup gets underway. Ninety five people have been arrested, and the estimated damage runs to something in the region of seven million euros. It is a genuinely staggering haul, and […]
AI and Trademarks: A Brilliant Assistant, but a Poor Researcher
One of my team recently flagged something to a local business, a genuinely successful brand, that they were trading with no trademark at all. There was no hard sell. He simply explained the risk and said we would call back in a week. By the time we did, they had “sorted it themselves” with AI, […]
Jellycat Versus the High Street: Why ‘Just a Cuddly Toy’ Is a Serious Brand Protection Lesson
Jellycat going after major retailers is a brilliant reminder that “cute” can still be very serious business. Most people look at a Jellycat and see a soft toy. A business looks at the same thing and sees design, reputation, customer loyalty, social media value and years of carefully built brand equity. The gap between those […]
A World Cup Marketing Warning for Pubs and Hospitality: What You Can and Cannot Say
If you run a pub, bar or any kind of hospitality venue, the World Cup is one of the best trading opportunities of the year. Packed rooms, big screens, a long run of fixtures and a genuine reason for people to come in and stay a while. It is a brilliant moment for the trade. […]
Gillette Stadium Becomes ‘Boston Stadium’ for the World Cup: What FIFA’s Clean Venue Rule Teaches Brand Owners
“Right, just cover the branding on every seat.” All 65,878 of them. That, more or less, is what has been happening at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, which will spend the 2026 FIFA World Cup answering to a completely different name. For the duration of the tournament, the home of the New England Patriots is not […]
Did you know that Umbro lost a Supreme Court case last summer?
Here is a question that tends to stop people in their tracks. Did you know that Umbro, the company behind one of the most recognised logos in British sport, lost a case at the UK Supreme Court last summer? Most people quietly assume that once you are big enough to own a famous logo, and […]
Oatly’s ‘Post Milk Generation’ Trademark Struck Down by the UK Supreme Court
There is a comforting little thought that a lot of business owners allow themselves once the certificate finally arrives, and it tends to go something like this: I have got my trademark registered, so that is the job done. I completely understand the appeal of believing it, because registration feels like a finish line and […]