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Specialisms

360° Brand Protection | Vigilance Online and Offline

“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 the protection of brands so they are built to last.

 

Working With you To Create, Build and master the Protection of 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 or name. 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:

  1. A promise of quality
  2. Association with culture surrounding that product (e.g. association by many of the world’s best athletes)
  3. 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. This is something that can only be achieved effectively by lawyers, and brand protection lawyers who are well versed in the 360-degree maintenance of brands. 

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 its business. Virtuoso Legal’s team has a storied history of 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 the registration and enforcement of trade marks or a business name. 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's team of lawyers 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.

 

 

Image of a key in a wooden table. Illustrating brand protection as it locks away valuables.

“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”

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Our experts in this area

Elizabeth Ward

Kate Reid

Case study

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…
Read more

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Leeds 0113 237 9900

London 0208 088 2367

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