Business Name Protection FAQs

Business assets like your stock, your office, and your equipment, are easy to recognise and associate with your company’s value and are invariably always protected in one form or another. However, another asset you have as a business owner which is often overlooked and not protected, like it should be, is probably your most important and valuable asset throughout the entire lifetime of your company. – Your Business Name.

For this reason, we offer a product which protects your Business name from ‘Passing Off’ (name copying).  This means that should a business start trading with the same, or confusingly similar name, to yours within the sector and area you trade, you’re able to do something about it easily, as you have protection in place.

We will determine whether there is likely to be a case of ‘Passing off’, if there is, we will begin correspondence on your behalf, we are able to draft cease and desist letters and mutual agreements.  Additionally, we can enter negotiations requesting the alternative business rebrands and changes its name and we can draft undertakings to this affect.  If this does not result in a change of business name from the alternative business, we are able to gain further legal opinion and instruct solicitors to file an application at Court and to commence legal proceedings to stop the Passing off continuing.  Business Name Protection offers cover for up to £10,000 worth of legal costs through the ‘Passing Off Assistance’ contained within it.

• Those who cannot trademark their business name
• Those businesses that would need assistance with the steps to take in a case of Passing Off ( name copying)
• Those who can not afford a trade mark
• Start up businesses
• Those businesses with a unique name within their geographical location
• Those who cannot trade mark their business name
• Those businesses with a unique name within their sector
• Those who could not afford to fund legal advice and representation legal assistance in the event of a passing off case

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• Those with a global brand presence.
• Those with in house legal teams.
• Those who are infringing upon registered trade marks
• Those who are already Passing themselves off as another business.
• If you want to franchise your business – a trade mark is more beneficial to you.

Registration for business name protection specifically provides protection against “passing off”, the common law term used to describe copying of a trading name by another business. Your annual subscription means you have peace of mind when it comes to safeguarding your business’ identity. We will instigate and pay for all necessary legal proceedings in protecting your business name using our internal team initially and then outsourcing where necessary up to the value of £10,000.

“Passing off” happens when someone deliberately or unintentionally passes off their own goods or services as those belonging to someone else. This action of misrepresentation often damages the goodwill of a person or business, causing financial or reputational damage. An example of this would be if business “XYZ Entertainers” established their service in the West Midlands, then a new business starts trading, calling themselves “XYZ of Birmingham”. Customers begin to book the new business believing it to be the previous one, which has a good reputation. 

The potential outcome here is either damage to the reputation of the original business, “XYZ Entertainers”, if “XYZ of Birmingham” provides poor service, or financial loss because the confusion causes customers to book with the wrong company. 

Raising a passing off claim can help you prevent other people from using the goodwill associated with your business for their own benefit and in turn prevents damage to your business’ reputation.

There are 3 elements which must be established when claiming for passing off:

• Goodwill – You must prove that you have a “reputation” that the public associates with your specific product or service.
• Misrepresentation – You must show that the other business passing off their business as yours has caused confusion, deceived or misled customers into believing that their goods and services are actually yours.
• Damage – You must prove that the misrepresentation has damaged or is likely to damage your goodwill, or cause actual or foreseeable loss, whether that be financial or reputational.

No, business name protection only covers your business in the UK, and covers the industry and region that you trade in.  If you register a trade mark you can do this in countries and jurisdictions across the globe.   

A trade mark will give you gold standard exclusive use, however, not all business names can be trade marked and not all businesses can afford to trade mark, at least not initially.  Business name protection bridges this gap and ensures that there is a level of protection for a business if it cannot register a trade mark.

You can read more on the differences here in our blog.

To protet your most valuable asset – your business name.

• Protect your customers from imposters.
• Peace of mind that your trading name is unique.
• Thorough name checking process.
• £10,000 legal cover if a business tries to imitate your name.
• Almost forty years of business name protection experience.
• Join our community of 2,500 current business name protection customers.

We carry out comprehensive searches against all active limited companies, all existing domains and additional business name checks, including our internal Business Names register.

Registration is renewable on an annual basis. A renewal notice will be sent to you before your registration expires or you can set up a direct debit for your plan to automatically renew. Alternatively, 2 or 5 year protection plans are available with associated discounts.

There are a number of restricted words, which need to be approved for use by the Department for Business and Trade. Restricted words or terms are usually phrases associated with already established official bodies, for example, government departments, health care organisations or other public services. If a restricted word is being used appropriately for your business we will gain permission on your behalf for use of this “restricted” word. If you have any queries regarding possible restricted words, please do contact us before applying.

We will work with you to search for alternative names free of charge.  Alternatively, it may be that you come to a co- existence agreement with the business that uses the same or similar name specifying locations, goods, services or similar so that you can continue under your current brand name. 

Yes, we can register your business name whatever the status of your firm, giving you protection and peace of mind.