Establishing Trademarks/Copyrights etc

[rossmc]

I'm looking to copyright the name/logo of my business, just wondering if anyone can point me in the right direction...

- Will the fact that I'm a sole trader be an issue?
- How much will I be looking to spend?
- How long does the process take?

[bwglaw]

To answer your questions:

1. No
2. Zilch, if copyright is yours.
3. 2 seconds, unless you need to assign copyright

The copyright in any logo will belong to the designer, unless you have expressly agreed for this to be assigned.

Now, for the name, it is your copyright, until someone claims to also have a copyright on the name and claims to have a common law right, and provided it is not infringing a registered trade mark. In any event, it makes good sense to get a unique mark registered as a trade mark to enjoy full protection

Info on trade marks:
http://www.ipo.gov.uk/tm.htm

Info on copyright:
http://www.ipo.gov.uk/copy.htm

[rossmc]

So basically unless I want to rely on commonlaw protection, which isn't always solid, I should register it? How much would it cost to do so? If I operate in both the UK and USA I presume I'd need to register in both countries, is this possible if I'm a UK based business?

[bwglaw]

You can register a mark in the UK alone or the European Community and/or the USA.

To register in the EC and USA, costs can exceed £1000, if you employ the services of a lawyer. To register a mark in the UK alone would cost in the region of £500

[nigel]

Go to this site http://www.ipo.gov.uk/home.htm & register your trademark online for £200. It's self explanatory.
Read it thoroughly first and make sure you have your absolute final copy before you upload it. Copywrite is automatically yours by the fact that you created it.
Welcome to the game.
N