Every day, hundreds of new creators enter the market. New brands are launched. New content is posted. New products are released. The creators who achieve long-term success have one thing in common: they protect their brand from the outset.
In this third article of our creator series, we explore the value of brand protection and highlight some of the common mistakes creators make when building and developing a brand – often without realising it.
Protecting Your Brand
Creators and influencers are no longer just content producers – they are businesses. From social media channels and podcasts to merchandise, product launches, book deals and brand collaborations, creators often build a vast brand portfolio over time.
There are several ways to legally protect your brand – from registering rights to ensuring your contracts and collaborations are watertight. One of the most important steps, however, is securing the intellectual property (IP) behind your brand.
IP is the legal foundation that protects the creative assets of a brand, whether that’s a name, logo, product design, or packaging. For most creators, the two most valuable registered rights are:
- Trade marks – protecting the name, logo, slogan or other distinctive brand elements.
- Designs – protecting the appearance of products, packaging or visual elements.
Trade Mark Protection
A trade mark gives you exclusive rights to use your brand name, logo or any other distinctive sign (such as a slogan) for the goods and services you offer.
For creators, this often includes digital content, books, merchandise, podcasts, lifestyle products or entertainment services.
Why register trade marks?
Registering a trade mark is one of the most valuable steps you can take to protect your brand. It allows you to:
- Prevent copycats or others from using similar branding.
- Utilise online takedown tools (e.g. Amazon, eBay’s VeRO programme, TikTok and Meta’s IP reporting systems) – particularly useful for tackling fake merchandise.
- Build commercial value and credibility when negotiating brand deals, sponsorships and collaborations.
- Benefit from a right that can last indefinitely, provided it’s renewed every 10 years.
- Monetise your brand, for example through licensing your name or logo in relation to a variety of products.
Taken together, a registered trade mark is a powerful enforcement tool that helps creators retain control as their brand grows and diversifies.
Common Mistakes – Trade Mark
Some of the most frequent – and often costly – mistakes when choosing or registering a trade mark include:
1. Choosing a name already in use
Using a name that is identical or similar to an existing brand offering similar or identical goods or services risks legal disputes.
Carrying out a clearance search to ensure it doesn’t infringe any third-party rights is a crucial first step.
2. Using a descriptive name
Names that simply describe what you do or offer – for example “UK fitness influencer” or “Podcast about money”, are typically unregistrable because they don’t function as a badge of origin.
If you have already adopted a descriptive name, consider:
- Protecting your logo;
- Developing a stylised version of the name; or
- Relying on acquired distinctiveness, if you can prove extensive use and public recognition of the trade mark.
3. Only protecting the brand in the UK
Creators often have global audiences. If you trade or plan to expand internationally, you should consider protection in all relevant markets. Trading under an unregistered mark leaves your brand vulnerable to third party infringement or misuse.
4. Assuming a Companies House Registration provides brand protection
A company name has no legal effect in a trade marks sense. Someone else could own the trade mark for the same name and legally prevent you from using the name you registered as a company.
5. Forgetting to protect logos
Many creators protect their name but overlook their logo, which is often used on merchandise, book covers, product packaging, or social media. Logos are separate assets which should be protected.
Design Protection
What can be registered as a design?
As long as the design is new and has individual character, the following features can be protected:
- Shape
- Lines and contours
- Configuration of parts
- Patterns
- Decorative elements.
Registered designs in the UK offer a cost-efficient and quick way to prevent others from copying the look of your products, merchandise or packaging.
Common Mistakes – Design
Common mistakes creators make with designs include:
1. Submitting unclear images or representations
Poor-quality images, reflections, shadows or inconsistent angles can delay the registration process. The representations of the design must be clear.
2. Waiting too long to file
To be eligible for registration, a design must be new. If a design has been made publicly available for more than 12 months in the UK, it may no longer quality for registration. Creators often make the mistake of launching a product before considering protection.
3. Failing to protect variations
If a product has multiple versions for example, different shapes or pattern variations, each may require its own registration to ensure all designs are adequately protected.
4. Protecting features dictated purely by technical function
Features of a product’s appearance that exist solely to enable it to function (for example, the exact shape of the product is required for it to work) cannot be registered.
Creators often evolve from content creators into product founders, brand owners, authors, podcast hosts, and so on. We regularly support influencers and creators with building and managing brand portfolios that cover a wide range of goods and services.
Taking proactive steps such as securing trade mark or design registration to protect your brand, reputation and revenue streams is crucial. If you need support with this, our specialist Intellectual Property team can help.
To read the previous article in this series please click here.