Reviewed 17 August 2010

Can I save money by protecting my name using copyright law?

Trade mark and copyright protection are two completely separate areas of Intellectual Property although the image issues you have mentioned would fall under the umbrella of copyright. The Trade Marks Examination guide PDF document(2.4Mb) and Copyright guide available on our website will give you more information on the differences.

To protect the name and logo of your business, you should consider registering this as a trade mark. You can save on the registration fee by applying electronically - there is a £30 discount for e-filing so applying via this route would only cost £170. You can also consider using our Right Start service which attracts an initial fee of £100 plus £25 for each additional class. You will then receive the examination report and can decide whether you wish to proceed before paying the £100 (+ £25 for each additional class) balance of payment.