Brands

A "brand" defines the relationship between a supplier and its customers. That includes the name by which the supplier is known and the trade mark by which its goods or services are recognized.

However, there is a great deal more to a brand than that. It can include distinctive features of the goods themselves, such as the Burberry check or the Rolls Royce grille. It can include a reputation for reliability or service acquired through careful after sales service.

Different aspects of a brand can be protected in different ways. The common law provides some protection for a name or get up by the action of passing off. Distinctive signs may be registered as trade marks. Design features may be registered as registered or registered Community designs. Advertising copy, artwork and radio and TV commercials may be protected as literary, artistic, musical and dramatic works, sound recordings, films and broadcasts. Market research and service data may be protected by confidence, copyright and database right. 

Important