Business Structure Help

[gamez-over]

Hi All,

I was wondering if anyone could advise me on the following:

1. When a Ltd company T/A another business name, what benefits and repercussions are there for this?

2. If I want to protect a company name, but not run it as a Ltd company is it worth registering it as a dormant company with Companies House?

Thanks in advance

 

[RhysLucas]

You are can done a nice work any new business helps prospective business owners determine the best legal structure for their new business. Identifying the appropriate business structure can help owners gain tax and legal protection benefits for their business.

 

[VeryMark]

If you want to protect a business name, then, whether or not you want to run it as a limited company, the only effective method is by trade mark registration.

Registration of a name at Companies House also gives no legal protection, it simply stops anybody else registering another limited company or limited partnership with the same name.

Trade mark registration, however, protects all forms of commercial usage of a name, whether as a company name, business name, product name, shop name, domain name, website name, in fact any form of commercial activity under the name which is likely to lead to confusion.

…….. and trade mark registration not only provides the protection necessary to safeguard a company’s identity or brand. It is also an enabler of brand licensing, and consequently helps in improving the generation of revenue. It can additionally assist in raising funds through e.g. securitisation, or help to support the sale of a business.

If a company does not seek trade mark registration at an early enough date, there is a danger that prior registration by someone else could prevent it expanding its business or that its marketing might even be halted altogether.

 

[gamez-over]

Thank you for the informative response.

I was wondering if you could give me a price on doing this for me?

Thanks

 

[Jacksonii]

Although I don't know the anwser. Thanks a lot for those guys anwsers, which let me learnt some useful information.

 

[VeryMark]

Thank you for the informative response.

I was wondering if you could give me a price on doing this for me?

Thanks

If you email the details of what you require here, then I can give you a quotation with a price.

How easy registration is depends on what you are trying to register, i.e. whether an objection might be raised that what is applied for conflicts with a previous registration or application or other prior right or that it does not qualify for registration as a trade mark. This also affects the time it takes, but if there are no problems then you can expect to get registration within about five or so in the UK – there is a mandatory two or three month period allowed for third parties to object.

In filing an application for trade mark registration, it is necessary to specify the goods and/or services in question according to the classification system used for this purpose. The cost depends on the number of classes listed.

Adequate information is needed to be sure of covering all the relevant classes and drafting comprehensive wording for each class specified - It is important to ensure that the correct class(es) are covered as, if you register for a description in a class which it later turns out is incorrect, the registration obtained may later be vulnerable to cancellation for non-use for the goods/services for which it is registered.

You can apply for registration just for the UK or on a wider geographical basis, for example through a Community Trade Mark Application to cover the whole of the EU. This also affects the cost.

Other than a Community Trade Mark (CTM), or a Benelux Trade Mark covering Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg, the only supra-national method is an International Registration via the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) under the so-called Madrid Protocol system to which the UK belongs, which would involve filing a home (UK or CTM) application first. Not all countries are members of the International system and so individual national applications would have to be filed in these other countries.

In most countries registration lasts for ten years after which renewal fees are due. Registrations can be renewed indefinitely for further ten year periods.

Further information can be found on our website at www.verymark.info.