Paging anyone in the patent and trade mark industry…

[CharlieB]

This is a completely off the wall question that may have a wide range of answers, but here goes:
Roughly how much would it cost a small charity to protect its tagline?
£Hundreds? £Thousands?

 

[threebikesmcginty]

I can only answer from the point of view of someone's who's gone down the taking a patent out route, it's thousands.

 

[Pale Rider]

This is a completely off the wall question that may have a wide range of answers, but here goes:
Roughly how much would it cost a small charity to protect its tagline?
£Hundreds? £Thousands?

Depends what you mean by 'tagline' and 'protect'.

For example, McDonald's use the phrase: "I'm lovin' it."

There's nothing to stop you or I using the phrase, but McDonald's might take a dim view if the phrase was used to promote burgers.

They would then have the option to either ignore the use, or take legal action to stop it.

Some companies and organisations are more aggressive than others in this area.

Enforcement is up to the wronged party and at their expense.

Thus protecting the tagline won't cost your charity any money unless someone nicks it and the charity wants to take action.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passing_off

 

[PhilDawson8270]

The problem with "protection" is it's only as safe as the companies finances can fund the protection.

If somebody like Samsung, decide to infringe on a little charity, guess who will run out of cash first

If they don't have the funds to enforce it, then the money to protect it is useless.

 

[ianrauk]

@velovoice may be able to help

 

[velovoice]

It depends on the tagline. Most cannot be "protected" as such but there may be ways to build up a passing off right. Those are difficult and expensive to enforce if you try to stop someone else using it. IME, charities rarely have the resources to keep the kind of records necessary to prove a passing-off case or to fund litigation if they have. Please PM if you have specifics you want to discuss, as generalities usually can't give you any meaningful guidance.

ETA: I have advised and assisted a number of charities on exactly these issues. For some reason, charities do love taglines! But aren't in the best position to make them work in the long term the way commercial enterprises can/do. Funding is rarely the main problem.

 

[velovoice]

Aha, just noticed who the OP is!! Charlie, give me a ring if you want on Adam's mobile.