Trading Standards Division - Business Advice

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Trade Marks and Copyright - Unauthorised copies of branded goods

Trade Marks

The law allows companies to register their names, logos, slogans, crest and badges as Trade Marks. This means that nobody else is allowed to produce merchandise bearing registered trademarks without the consent of the trademark holder.
It is a criminal offence to deal in trademarked merchandise that has not been authorised or licensed by the trademark holder.
If you are found dealing in such goods you may be arrested and the goods can be seized and forfeited.

How can a trader avoid committing an offence?

The Act provides a trader with the defence if he can prove that 'he believed on reasonable grounds that the use of the sign in the manner in which it was used, or was to be used, was not an infringement of the registered trademark'.

In simple terms this means that you need to be sure you're dealing in genuine goods and that you have a system to check authenticity and that the system is followed. You can best avoid problems by dealing in official merchandise from authorised suppliers.

Copyright

To protect your own work you should use copyright symbols and the registered trademark symbol when you are the trademark holder. If you want to use somebody else's material on your site you need to obtain the owner's express permission before you do so.
Copyright is a form of intellectual property right attached to an original work. A "work" can be a literary or artistic work such as a book, illustration, photograph, music and or computer programmes.
Software - the copyright owner is the software developer/publisher. You cannot copy the "work" without permission from the copyright owner. When using software in your own business be careful to comply with the licence agreement.

Guidance on the Trade Marks Act and Copyright can be found at www.patent.gov.uk.

Useful information about software piracy can be found at www.elspa.com.

Useful information about counterfeit branded goods can be found at www.a-cg.com.

Please Note

This leaflet is not an authoritative interpretation of the law and is intended only for guidance. For further information please contact your local Consumer Protection or Trading Standards office.

Trading Standards Division, 3rd Floor, Wallasey Town Hall, Brighton Street, Wallasey, Wirral CH44 8ED
Telephone: (0151) 691 8020 Fax: (0151) 691 8098
Internet World Wide Web http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/wirral/
Electronic Mail: tradingstandards@wirral.gov.uk