Our Business name being used by major store (sorry long)

[AutumnDragon]

We are a family run small business that sells predominantly on major marketplaces, eg Amazon, Ebay etc. We have used the same name since we started in 2011 but it is not brand registered, copyrighted etc. We run as a partnership and not a limited company.

We have just started to receive a few phone calls / emails regarding some issues with some of "our" products, but these are not things we sell. When I've questioned further, it turns out they were bought from a major, budget store chain.

We went in there yesterday to investigate and they had about 20 - 25 products with this "brand" name on. They are made in China for this store and the packaging has their store info on.

But the logo is very similar to ours - we use the partnership name in a specific font and colour and it can be seen on our website, and the marketplaces in this format. Their logo is a similar font but not coloured.

We do not make our own items but sell mainly branded items plus a few generic items that Amazon insist have a "brand" for which we use our name.

It is only a minor irritation at the moment, but it is devaluing our name as these are seriously cheap items which we would not sell.

Is there anything we can do, and if so, what?

Consult a lawyer who specialises in intellectual property. You may be able to claim against them for passing off.

I don't think you will have much of a case if you haven't registered or trademarked the name and you are not a well known market leader.

I don't think you will have much of a case if you haven't registered or trademarked the name and you are not a well known market leader

It is difficult to tell. The OP would be in a stronger position if she had registered her name as a trademark but there is some protection for unregistered trademarks in the UK. It depends on whether her reputation is strong enough to give her a case.

Thank you for your responses

@prh47bridge that's interesting. Do you know where I'd start looking into this?

You need a lawyer who specialises in intellectual property. The simplest way to find one is to search on Google. There are plenty of them around so you should be able to find one near you.

Thank You