John Pryor on LinkedIn: Can You Sue Suppliers For Stealing Your Inventions? What If Your Partner… | 20 comments (2024)

‘Naming is one of the most difficult things you'll do, because big brands defend their name vigorously’. Michael Hobbs.CHOOSE CAREFULLYIf you are a small, specialist nutrition brand from Wigan, why would you knowingly step on the toes of food giants like Nestle, and call your product ‘Crunch’?‘Why? Because name spaces - the combination of domain names, social media IDs, and trademarks - are congested. It is very hard to find a good combination that is not going to get challenged.’ Entrepreneur Michael Hobbs, posted on LinkedIn earlier this week. WHY FIGHT THE GIANT?85 year old Crunch was Nestle’s best selling bar in the States at one time and was launched in the UK in 1965. Nestle decided it was time to take down the name KBF Enterprises were using for their protein bar, Warrior Crunch, except a legal error lost Nestle the battle!!WARRIOR LUCK Unbelievably the lawyers for Nestle failed to submit a document on time, lied about it, and as aresult the UKIPO registrar responded by revoking the Nestle CRUNCH trademark!!PLAN AHEADScan the horizon and look out for risks As Michael Hobbs says: ‘If namespaces, #trademarks and personality rights are complex in our current digital and physical world, how do they play out in the world of #AI and #advertising?’

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Why Is It Important For Social Media Influencers To Choose The Right Name?Why did Pepsi change the name of their Sierra Mist drink to Starry? Sometimes you can get lucky when taking on the big guys but I would not bank on it.‘Facebusk’ was always going to get taken down.When social media influencer and supermodel Molly Sims marketed product called BROW DEFINING BOOST using the social media hashtag #BROWBOOST, she was always going to clash with Petunia Products, owner of the BROW BOOST trademark. Molly did not win. So when social media influencer Cierra Mistt was told by Pepsi she could no longer use her name because it was too similar (sounds like) the Pepsi drink called Sierra Mist, it was always only going to go one way…….That is until Cierra Mistt checked and realised Peps had stupidly allowed their trademark to lapse by not paying a renewal fee. Boom – free gifts rolling in!!Guess who had to rebrand to Starry?Check the video and see for your self https://lnkd.in/eFen3CJQThink twice before you choose a social media name. Do some research ask someone like Exalt IP to help you search. It might well save you a whole host of trouble later.

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Scammers are impersonating Richard Branson to rip people off.Richard Branson says people are being scammed by fraudsters impersonating him.Recently Branson’s people took down more than 130 instances of him being impersonated, fake social media pages, misleading ads and false endorsem*nts.In one instance a fraudster did an “extremely accurate impression” of Branson, calling his friend claiming he needed $2 million for a clean up in the British Virgin Islands after Hurricane Irma. Branson’s friend gave the $2 million to the impersonator!With AI it is so difficult to spot the difference, and not just with Richard Branson with popstars, sports stars, influencers and politicians.Social Media is taking a tougher stance on fake accounts and verification will become the norm. Having a registered trademark helps with verification on social media and reduces the chances of scams. Want to know more give me a call?

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How will you respond when accused of trade secrets theft?The police minister’s wife is accused of using trade secrets from her former employer in a corporate espionage case!Trade secrets work both ways either you will accuse someone of stealing yours or someone will accuse you of stealing theirs, so how do you prepare?It is an unavoidable fact that trade secrets litigation is on the rise and also that relationships end in dispute. It is sensible to make some preparations. In the Police minister’s wife case, she is accused ‘conspiring to poach her former employer’s client list for their new firm, leading to losses of approximately £1.5m’.One red flag for me is the ‘delay in wiping her laptop’ …. it did not happen until after she had left the business!At Exalt IP we help prepare for such eventualities. How are you preparing your business for trade secrets theft?https://lnkd.in/eRaw8kmg.

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