In the fast-paced world of business, protecting your intellectual property is more crucial than ever. Companies House has begun an investigation following recent reports revealing a disturbing trend – identity theft scammers are cloning renowned restaurants. It’s not just the small guys being targeted, well known names like those owned by Heston Blumenthal, Yotam Ottolenghi, and the Ritz have also become victims to this. This emerging scam involves fraudulent registrations of more than 750 fake firms within the first six weeks of 2024 alone.
Imagine the impact on your business if a clone with a slight misspelling of your name starts opening bank accounts and applying for loans. This isn’t just a hypothetical scenario; it’s a real threat faced by businesses today.
Here’s the breakdown of how this scam works: for a small sum, scammers can register a business online with Companies House, the UK’s central registry of companies. Within 24 hours, they have a fake company, often with a misspelled name or address, ready to go. With this, they can pilfer overdraft money from cloned bank accounts and order high-value goods from unsuspecting suppliers eager to fulfil what seems like legitimate orders.
This does sound like the stuff of nightmares and Companies House are attempting to step up its game. Currently, it’s too easy for scammers to exploit the system, and the consequences are dire.
For some time now we have been highlighting that registering a business’ name at Companies House offers a business very little in the way of protection. A slight change in the spelling or wording would still be able to be registered at Companies House and this has been known to have reputational and financial damage.
Changes are on the horizon, Companies House has new powers from last month to tackle fraudulent registrations, but these tougher checks include a registered office, an email address and a tick box that the company is set up for lawful purposes. These are not going to prevent a play on words or a company attempting to pass themselves off as another by registering a confusingly similar name.
What can you do to protect your business?
- Stay Informed: Be aware of the risks and stay informed about the latest developments in intellectual property protection.
- Consult with Experts: Consider consulting with specialists in intellectual property. They can guide you on best practices and the tools available to help safeguard your business against potential threats.
- Protect Your Brand: By registering a trade mark you gain exclusive rights to your name, tagline or logo in your sector. When you register a design mark it is not limited by sector or class, potentially giving you wider cover on the appearance of something like a logo. Additionally, design marks are currently much quicker to register than trade marks.
By registering your trade or design mark, you are protecting your brand. Registration prevents other businesses from copying your brand, it is well documented that protecting registered brands is much easier than relying on ‘passing off’ to protect unregistered marks.
Remember, taking proactive steps now can save you from headaches later. Don’t let your hard work and reputation fall prey to identity theft scams. As we navigate these changes in intellectual property law, your business deserves the best protection available.
Stay vigilant and get protected.
Should you wish to discuss how you are able to secure and protect your business’ name from identity theft and copy cats call us on 0800 069 9090 or email info@nbrg.co.uk.