Starting a business is hard, there are a million and one things to spend money on, decisions to make and hurdles to overcome however, the most important thing to decide (at least in my opinion, and I'm completely biased) is the brand name.
To help you with this tricky task, here are the top 5 things to remember:
- In order to properly 'own' your brand name you need to register it as a trade mark, at least in your primary market (e.g. the UK). Trade marks are vital commercial assets, they grant a monopoly right to their owners (allowing them to prevent copycats) and they're usually one of the first things an investor or purchaser will ask about when doing due diligence on a business.
- Brand names which are descriptive in nature or insufficiently distinctive (i.e. too generic) are likely to be refused trade mark protection. They're also difficult and costly to police in the long term as your competitors will inevitably use similar wording when advertising their goods/services. On that basis, coming up with a distinctive and non-descriptive brand name is paramount.
- Once you've decided on your preferred name, you need to ensure that it isn't already registered as a trade mark (in any of your key markets). A prior similar trade mark (it doesn't need to be identical) can be used as the basis for a trade mark opposition, thereby blocking your application. Worse still, a prior similar trade mark could be used as the basis for a trade mark infringement claim, even if you don't apply for your own trade mark, which could result in a forced rebrand and payments to account for damages + legal costs.
- Beyond a trade mark clearance search you should also check to see what sort of availability there is for a domain name featuring your brand name, and associated social media handles. Once taken, these can be hard to get around and costly to acquire and so ideally your brand name will be sufficiently original to not already be in use.
- In addition to selecting the brand name you should also consider how it will appear in a logo (NB point 3 above will be relevant for this). Typically this will involve the instruction of a graphic designer to help create the logo however make sure that you consider the copyright position prior to making the instruction. A freelancer will normally be the first owner of any graphic work which they author and so it's important to make sure that your agreement with them includes a copyright assignment.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.