A Name Is Not a Brand: Securing Your Business Identity Beyond Companies House

Every week, a director somewhere opens a letter and discovers that the name they have spent years building is being used by somebody else. The usual reaction is disbelief, followed quickly by the assumption that the matter is straightforward: the name is registered at Companies House, the certificate is framed on the wall, and the law must surely do the rest.

It does not. Understanding why is the first step towards protecting the asset properly.

Two Registers, Two Different Jobs

Companies House maintains a register of corporate entities. Its purpose is to record that a company exists, who runs it, and who owns it. When you incorporate, the registrar checks that your proposed name is not identical to an existing entry and that it does not contain prohibited or sensitive words. That is the extent of the exercise.

What incorporation does not do is grant you any proprietary right in the name as a badge of trade. It gives you no monopoly, no exclusive use, and no automatic remedy against a competitor who adopts something similar. A limited company can be incorporated as Meridian Joinery Ltd in Leeds while a completely unrelated business trades as Meridian Joinery in Bristol, and Companies House will have no objection at all.

A registered trade mark, by contrast, is a form of intellectual property. Granted by the UK Intellectual Property Office, it confers an exclusive right to use the mark in connection with the goods and services for which it is registered, together with the ability to stop others using confusingly similar signs in that field.

The Uncomfortable Position Without a Trade Mark

A business operating without a registered mark is not entirely without recourse, but its position is materially weaker.

The available claim is passing off, which requires a claimant to prove three things: goodwill or reputation attached to the name, a misrepresentation by the other party likely to deceive the public, and consequent damage. Each element demands evidence — trading history, turnover, marketing spend, customer testimony, examples of confusion. It is an expensive and uncertain route, and it places the burden squarely on the business that has been wronged.

A registered trade mark reverses that burden. Infringement can be established by showing that the defendant has used an identical or similar sign for identical or similar goods or services, without the need to prove reputation or confusion at first instance. Possession of a registration also provides a rapid route to removing a conflicting later mark from the register.

Starting With a Search, Not a Purchase

Before committing to signage, packaging or a website, a business should establish what space is available.

Three searches are worth carrying out as a matter of routine:

• The UKIPO trade mark register, searching both for identical marks and for marks that look or sound close enough to cause confusion. Searching by class as well as by word is essential; a search that stops at the exact spelling will miss a great deal.
• Companies House, to see whether a similarly named entity is already trading in the same field.
• Practical commercial checks — domain availability, social media handles, and a general web search for existing users of the name in your sector.

A professional search, including an assessment of registrability and risk, is inexpensive relative to the cost of a forced rebrand. Repainting vans, reprinting stationery and rebuilding a website's search visibility can dwarf the cost of a trade mark application several times over.

Choosing the Right Classes

UK trade marks are registered in respect of goods and services grouped into classes under the Nice classification system. Class selection is where many self-filed applications quietly fail.

A joiner, for example, may need a class covering the manufacture of goods, a class covering installation and repair services, and a class covering retail or online sale. A software business may need a class for the software itself and a further class for the provision of services using it. Registering in the wrong class produces a mark that is valid but useless against the competitor you actually care about.

The wording of the specification matters too. Overly broad terms are often objected to, while overly narrow ones leave gaps. The aim is a specification that accurately reflects present trading and reasonable near-term expansion.

Costs, Timescales and Pitfalls

The official fee for an online application currently starts at £170 for one class, with a reduced fee for each additional class. Professional fees vary considerably, but for a straightforward application they are modest. Registration typically takes around four to five months if unopposed, though examination can be quicker.

A trade mark lasts ten years and is renewable indefinitely, provided renewal fees are paid and the mark is genuinely used.

Common pitfalls include:

• Choosing a descriptive name. Marks that merely describe the product or its characteristics are difficult to register and difficult to enforce. Distinctive names are stronger assets.
• Filing without a search. An application that collides with an earlier right will be opposed, and the fees are not refunded.
• Never using the mark. A registration unused for five years becomes vulnerable to revocation for non-use.
• Letting it lapse. Diarise the renewal date; there is a grace period, but it expires.

If Someone Opposes, or Someone Is Already There

Once an application is published, third parties have a two-month window to oppose. Opposition is a formal, evidence-based process conducted before the UKIPO, and most matters of this kind are resolved through negotiation, restriction of the specification, or a coexistence agreement rather than a full hearing.

Where the position is the reverse — where an existing user objects to you — the sensible first step is to take advice before responding. A firm but measured reply, or a negotiated settlement allowing both parties to trade in defined ways, is often far cheaper than litigation. The UKIPO offers a mediation service for inter partes disputes, and courts actively encourage alternative dispute resolution in intellectual property claims.

Where a competitor is already using your registered mark without authority, the usual sequence is a letter before action setting out the right relied upon and the remedy sought, followed by proceedings in the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court if the matter does not resolve. That court is designed for smaller claims, with capped costs and a streamlined procedure.

A Practical Sequence for the Small Business

For a business reviewing its position today, the order of work is usually this: audit the names and logos actually in use; search the register and the market; decide which marks are genuinely valuable; file for those in the correct classes; record the registration and diarise renewals; and put a simple internal policy in place so that new branding is checked before it is adopted.

A company name is where a business begins. A trade mark is what it can rely on when somebody else decides to begin in the same place. The two are not interchangeable, and the difference becomes apparent at precisely the moment it is most expensive to discover.

This article provides general information and does not constitute legal advice on any specific matter. Trade mark strategy depends on the particular facts, and professional advice should be taken before filing or responding to a claim.