Crikey HQ - just seen an advert for a company who have basically stolen your logo

[bibbitybobbityyhat]

Look at this cleaning company

They aren't anything to do with you, I assume?

Just thought you'd like to know!

What a cheek!

That is gobsmackingly flagrant

Well technically it's originally from Charlie's Angels.

Good point, Longdistance. I wonder what sort of arrangements had to be made?

I wonder if you have to be a mum to work for them. Does this mean they won't employ men or childless people? What a strange company slogan.

Maybe this is how HQ fills their troll free daytimes?

Cringe at their company name and also 'Working mother'. Working is sufficient.

Kerb

I think mumsnet stole the Charlie's Angels logo rather than the cleaning company stealing Mumsnet

I think we broke their website guys...

This would be an interesting case in trademark law (I'm no expert, .just studied it a tiny bit a while back).

"Passing off" ie pretending to be another company is illegal.

The mumsnet logo is of course taken from Charlie's Angels, but mumsnet aren't trying to pass themselves off as actually associated with Charlie's Angles in any way, and no one would reasonably think that.

But the cleaning company are trading on being mums, and they've chosen a similar blue to the mumsnet logo,.so they're on much more dodgy ground than mumsnet and Charlie's Angels. Could there be benefits for the cleaning company if people thought they were endorsed by, or something to do with mumsnet? Quite possibly.

Could they be done for passing off?

If mumsnet have traded their logo quite possibly. They would of course argue it's from Charlie's Angels but Mumsnet might well be able to argue they are trying to benefit from an implied association with MN.

*that should say trademarked not traded, stupid phone!

Can you trademark a logo that's so obviously a pastiche of another eg the mumsnet logo? I dunno!

If you can, this company is in trouble I reckon. If you can't then they're fine, legally.

Oo-er!

They're very reasonable on rates.

And yes it's all based on Charlie's Angels anyway.

For passing off you'd have to show that there was genuine confusion on the part if the public and that people thought they were contracting the Mumsnet team to do their cleaning. Seems unlikely. However, the clever people at HQ have trade marked the logo, strengthening their case (just have to show risk of confusion, not actual confusion), so if they want to, they can get it stopped
www.ipo.gov.uk/tmcase/Results/1/UK00002563351

Like the 'i-orange' shop near us who obviously got a cease and desist letter recently (name now painted over).

Hi bibbitybobbityyhat - thank you so much for flagging this. We'll have a look.

Thanks for the heads up. It's true I stole got inspiration for the MN logo from Charlies Angels and it's probably true that, as it's now trademarked, we could stop this lot using it but I'm of a mind to leave it as it's a fairly weak likeness imho. Maybe I'm going soft in my old age, though?

Ah Justine you are an old softy really

(BTW been seeing a lot of Mark Stevens in the press talking about a recent injunction and felt quite grateful to him all over again #old #SWMNBM)

@DonkeyOaty

Ah Justine you are an old softy really

(BTW been seeing a lot of Mark Stevens in the press talking about a recent injunction and felt quite grateful to him all over again #old #SWMNBM)

Good old Mark - he was truly our knight in shining armour.

Ah you old possum Justine!

I'd definitely being having a quiet word in the shell-like of the cleaning company, in a nice way of course, because am not a softy at all. But of course its up to you!

Does MN run the risk of not being able to enforce TM infringement elsewhere if it knowingly doesn't enforce it somewhere else?