Small business vs Big Business help needed

[AutumnDragon]

We have been selling on marketplaces for over 10 years, and have our own website. We designed a very simple logo that is basically just the name in two different fonts, in a specific colour. We do not manufacturer anything, we buy in to sell, but some items have the business name as the brand for various reasons.

We suddenly started getting complaint calls about products we had never heard of. Luckily one of them said where they had bought it from, which is a large budget chain.

We did a little research visit to said shop and sure enough, they had a number of items with the same name as our business, and the logo is incredibly similar (but not the colour). Just to be clear, they sell many thousands of lines and this logo is on a very limited range of items within one category. It is also nothing like their trading name, so we don't know if it is one of their brands or if they are buying it in.

We have not trade marked the name or logo as we were pretty small when this started. The name / logo does not appear on the trade mark database so nor have they.

Our business is small, it was never designed to be massive so we do not have the spare money for lawyers and drawn out court cases. But it has gained an excellent reputation which we do not want tarnished by shoddy cheap goods.

Can anyone on here suggest what course of action we should take? We really need to work out where we stand legally before we contact this company as we need them to agree to resolve this without involving lawyers etc.

Any ideas very gratefully received

You may have an unregistered trademark. You need to consult a lawyer who specialises in intellectual property rather than taking advice from internet randoms. It is unlikely (but not impossible) that you will be able to persuade the large business to change their branding, so you probably need to think about changing your own. However, you may be able to get some compensation from them.

@prh47bridge

You may have an unregistered trademark. You need to consult a lawyer who specialises in intellectual property rather than taking advice from internet randoms. It is unlikely (but not impossible) that you will be able to persuade the large business to change their branding, so you probably need to think about changing your own. However, you may be able to get some compensation from them.

Sorry, I don’t understand the concept of an unregistered trademark, are you saying that we might still have a case without it being registered.

"Unregistered" trademark is worth diddly squat. If you don't have anything registered, then you are looking at a passing off action (which costs £££). There was a case recently along similar lines with a Cornish butcher taking Lidl to court. I would contact a trade mark attorney and see if you can now register a trade mark.

So, is it too late to register it as a trademark, or is it likely to be a waste of money / time?

It is certainly harder to enforce your rights with an unregistered trademark but it is not impossible. TheWayOfTheWorld refers to Philip Warren & Son Limited v LIDL - as far as I am aware, the judgement on that case has not yet been handed down.

If you try to register a trademark now it is likely to be opposed by the big business. As I say, you need to consult a lawyer who specialises in intellectual property (which TheWayOfTheWorld refers to as a trademark attorney).

@prh47bridge

It is certainly harder to enforce your rights with an unregistered trademark but it is not impossible. TheWayOfTheWorld refers to Philip Warren & Son Limited v LIDL - as far as I am aware, the judgement on that case has not yet been handed down.

If you try to register a trademark now it is likely to be opposed by the big business. As I say, you need to consult a lawyer who specialises in intellectual property (which TheWayOfTheWorld refers to as a trademark attorney).

That's the one!