“Image means personality. Products, like people, have personalities, and they can make or break them in the marketplace.” – David Ogilvy
Trade Mark and Brand Registration
Registered Design Rights
Comprehensive Brand Monitoring and Landscaping
Creating and Managing Brand Portfolios
Forecasting International Brand Deployment
Counterfeit Monitoring and Enforcement
Domain Monitoring, Strategy and Enforcement
Blockchain Monitoring
Brand Valuations and Audits
IP Management and Process Development
Brand Appeals, Opposition and Revocation
Online Marketplace Enforcement
We help clients navigate the complex process of creating, growing and protecting brands so they are built to last.
Working With you To Create, Build and Protect Household Name Brands
Brands are how clients and customers recognise you.
Whether it is a logo, or the name of your company, products or services – brands are signs which alert the buying public that what you're selling originates from you and no-one else.
Brands act as a "seal of quality" and origin that are empowered by goodwill your business has built up over the course of its operation.
Example: Nike
Consider a pair of Nike trainers placed alongside an identical pair – except the identical pair does not display any branding elements. No “Nike”, no “swoosh”. For most consumers, at the same (or even a discounted) price point – the branded trainers are more attractive.
This is because Nike’s branding adds value to the consumer, including but not limited to:
A promise of quality
Association with culture surrounding that product (e.g. association by many of the world’s best athletes)
Expression of these qualities to others
This value is absolutely crucial to Nike, in fact, in 2019 Nike’s brand alone was valued at $32.4 billion. It is the same for all companies who become known for their products and services and using branding to differentiate themselves from competitors. Especially when others will use marks or signs used by these companies to redirect trade or take advantage by using signs illegitimately.
Protecting your name
Simply put, brands need to be protected, not only to stop infringement, copycats and counterfeits – but also in order to secure brands in a way where they can be licensed, franchised and primed for business growth.
Brands are protected by registered rights in the form of trade marks and can attract protection through unregistered rights under the tort of passing off.
As a business grows it is vital that they have a proactive brand protection strategy in place in order to secure and grow the value of these assets in line with their business. Virtuoso Legal’s team has a storied history in partnering with international businesses to secure and develop their brands.
More than just trade marks
Whilst trade marks are the lynchpin of world-class brand portfolios - in today's technology-driven world, brand protection has to go above and beyond registration and enforcement of TMs. Brand protection today needs to be comprehensive and constantly evolving, including:
registering domains, monitoring and taking down potentially damaging ones
capture and monitoring of social media platform identities, and keeping up with new platforms that gain popularity
reviewing and issuing takedown requests for unauthorised listings on online marketplaces e.g. Amazon, eBay, AliExpress, Shopify and Etsy
emergent technology such as blockchain
Amongst many others.
True vigilance requires not only a comprehensive and evolving view of the digital world for infringement but the teeth to act proactively to address risks before they become problems that affect a business' bottom line.
Virtuoso Legal have brought together a host of world-leading solutions in a single package; which, combined with their experience and expertise provides our clients with elite brand protection. Scroll below to read more about the individual areas of brand protection service in more detail.
“It is no surprise to anyone worth their salt in business that the most valuable companies in the world are also those who have the most valuable brands in their ownership. In a digital world where companies quickly have an international footprint and become overnight successes it becomes quickly clear that strong brands that can be legally enforced are crucial. We’re always delighted to help businesses secure their priorities and develop brand portfolios which quickly multiply in value”
An international linguistic services company found a third-party website using its brand selling services. The team at Virtuoso Legal investigated, finding a competing company had set it up and had been siphoning business through the site. This was a cybersquatting and trade mark infringement case, resulting in a record cost and damages award. Click to…
