Reputation Management Using Copyright and IPO

March 22, 2010 - PRLog -- Reputation Management is at its basic concept, the simple process of being aware and taking control of how you, your business or the brands and IPO you control are perceived. Increasingly it is predominantly the online outlets, websites, news stories and social media that present the most dangers.  A positive or negative story in the Times or even a local paper will be processed through several stages of fact checking and even legal verification before being printed.  

Online publishers can range from online versions of credible source such as the Times and BBC, to the lower end of credibility: one solitary disgruntled employee or disgruntled customer hell-bent on destroying your reputation.

It is in the areas of detection that many reputation monitoring tools have come to the market to allow users to monitor the expanse that is the internet, for such reputation risks. However, what many businesses fail to do is take adequate preventative measures to ensure that they can defend their name or brand.

£250 to Save Your Brand

UK Individuals or businesses can secure both the written (text version) and any graphical logo or artwork using the Intellectual Property Office. http://www.ipo.gov.uk/types/tm/t-about.htm . Once protected, crucially the owner of these marks will then have grounds stop them being used without their permission. For example if a competitor wished to produce a comparison of their service and yours, had your brand been trade marked as text and the logo they would be unable to publish them without your permission.
The process of securing IPO can be a little intimidating but that need not be the case. Application can now be made online and any UK applications made will involve a search of TM throughout not just the UK but EU member countries.

5 Step Process for IPO Reputation Management

1)   Make application online. You will need to select a “Class” this is effectively a category/sector for your industry. In some instances you may be more than one class. E.g. The Cola Company (with the red can) as you will see from this application they have registered the mark for 3 classes as they all apply to their business. http://www.ipo.gov.uk/ohim?ohimnum=E569780.

2)   The application itself will cost £200 with an additional cost for each and every class of £50.

3)   Investigations will then take place to see if your application is the same or similar to any existing marks. If they are you will receive a report from the IPO office informing you of this fact. You will be given the option to present your case. In many cases similar marks are registered as they contain common words, but may not be in anyway confusable with the mark you wish to register. The case office will then either notify the holder of a similar mark/ allow then to dispute it/proceed to publication.

4)   The mark will be published publicly for 8 weeks allowing the public to object should they feel they have grounds to do so.

5)   After this period, assuming that no objection has been received the mark is granted and you will receive the trade mark certificate within a matter of week. ( IPO office state that up to 4 month however our own experience is much less than this, around 1 month)

Finally once the mark is protected, you need to be willing to defend it or perhaps even licence or sell it. You can get legal advice, from The Institute of Trade mark Attorneys (ITMA) , The Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA) or The Law Society.

www.reputation247.com

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Reputation 24/7 is a web-based service which provides real-time data to SME’s on how their brand, intellectual copyright and overall reputation are portrayed on the internet. By scanning the internet for target words or phrases, the name of business, product brands and the name of key individual a report based on the positive or negative nature of how the business is perceived is returned. http://www.reputation247.com.