Brand Protection; Considerations of a UK SME With Global Ambitions

Stephanie Hanson, Senior Legal Counsel, The Carbon Trust

The Carbon Trust is a world leading authority on climate change. Our mission is to accelerate the move to a sustainable, low carbon economy and we do that by advising governments, businesses and multi-national organisations around the world. One of our most important assets is our brand and the logos that are now associated with it, including specific trade marks that a business can use to denote achievement of successful certification to the Carbon Trust’s standards for carbon, water and waste. So like many small and medium sized organisations our brand, along with a solid business model and balance sheet, is one of the key assets of our business and the remit of the in-house legal team includes ensuring protection of those assets and maintenance of their value in the context of our mission. All organisations need to identify the value of their brand and thereafter their key trade marks, as well as the main places in which they plan to use them and the ways they can be protected from unauthorised use by third parties. In this paper we consider the decisions which organisations, particularly in the UK, face when growing their brand (including internationally) and offer some suggestions that may be particularly relevant to lawyers in small and medium sized organisations faced with limited resources and budgets.