Registered and unregistered names for online businesses

24 March 2010

Registered and unregistered names for online businesses

By Paul Bicknell

Registered Trade Marks

It is important to protect your company name by instructing a solicitor or trade mark attorney to file an application to register your company name as a trade mark, Failing to do so and where another copies your company name means that you will only be protected in the rather uncertain law of passing off.

The potential for infringement is heightened in the online arena for example domain names can be purchased containing you company name, meta tags could contain your company name and also Adwords.

It is therefore important for online businesses to register their company name as a trade mark to avoid having to rely on passing off.

By Paul Bicknell assistant to Izaz Ali (izaz.ali@lawdit.co.uk) Izaz Ali is a commercial Solicitor Advocate who specialises in information technology law and intellectual property law with an emphasis on IT, escrow and buying and selling online businesses.