1

Is a shortened or edited version of a trademark covered by the initial trademark.

Take the following for example: enter image description here

If someone were to use this name or logo while removing the 'studio', would this be in violation of the trademark?

I ask this in reference to a scenario in the UK with a UK trademark, although I'm aware that there may be an international standard for this.

1 Answer 1

4

Trademarks protect against consumer confusion. Ask yourself if a consumer seeing that image with the "studio" portion removed might think that the altered image represents the same company as the original image. Of course, the answer will be "yes."

But in the end it also depends on how the trademark is used. You've used the original image in the question; have you violated the trademark? No. Do you violate Tesco's trademark when you say "I went shopping at Tesco"? No. Do you violate their trademark when you sell food using the name "Tesco"? Yes.

A distinctive graphic design such as this will also be protected by copyright, so you will also have to consider whether your intended use infringes copyright.

1
  • thanks a lot, that makes great sense. I assume this would be true even if they edited the logo slightly. For example, using the above logo, if they removed the white lines, brought the 5 down so it was in line with Canal, and removed the ‘studio’ so it just read ‘canal5’ that would still be a violation of the trademark. Would you agree? I ask because I’m wondering if I’d need to register an alternate version of a logo that I sometimes use in order for it/the alternate name to be protected. Is this the case for the name too? Commented Apr 13, 2023 at 20:10

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .