News Article 2008-12-31
Failing to register your firm’s name could cost you
By: Stephen Timm
Posted: Friday, 21 September 2007| © BusinessOwner 1997-2005
BUSINESS owners who buy an existing business or start up a new one should be careful to consult the Companies an Intellectual Property Registration Office’s (Cipro) registration and trademark databases to ensure that their company name is not already in use by another business.
Failing to do so could cost you thousands of rands in legal fees if you have to go to court to prevent others from using your business’ name, says Mariette Viljoen, a partner at patent attorneys Adams and Adams.
The recent dispute between Mr Plastic and Mr Plastic Mining and Promotional Goods over a domain name is a case in point.
The dispute stemmed partly from the original owner of Mr Plastic not having registered his business’ name as a trademark.
At the time, the previous owner of Mr Plastic CC, proceeded to allow other businesses free use of the name and logo as a way to popularise Mr Plastic.
This has resulted in the two companies, as well as others, sharing a similar company name and even the same corporate logo.
Viljoen says business owners should be very careful about giving other parties the right to use your business’ name and logo if they are not your franchisees. She says this will dilute your trademark.
She says entrepreneurs that purchase an existing business should scrutinize the details of the company they are buying to ensure that it has been trademarked or that the name does not conflict with that of other business entities.
To file a search of the company’s register is free on the Cipro website, but business owners should also run a check in the trademark register as the two registers are not linked. To scan the trademark register will cost about R2 500 if you do it through a patent attorney.
Viljoen also advises business owners who select names for their business, to go for names that don’t necessarily describe what the business does, as these will more likely not already be taken. A well-established name such as Kodak is such an example.
Megan Reimers, an associate of Spoor and Fisher Attorneys, advises that, for added protection of their business’s trademark, business owners register with a patent attorney to run regular monthly searches of the trademark journal. She says this costs R85 a month through Spoor and Fisher.
Contact Viljoen on 012 481 1500 and Reimers on 011 303 1111.
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