Wood Trade Marks and Design Limited

Minivator Ltd have just had their wrists slapped by the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) because they got their ad text wrong.  They ran a promotion where they promised to donate 50% of the profits to Help the Aged.  Unfortunately, the donation was only meant to be from the sales under the promotion, NOT the whole business.

A competitor challenged whether the advert was misleading and could be substantiated – the ASA found that although the promotion had raised substantial amounts for charity, the advert was misleading.  Another example of how you HAVE to use really tight copy on your adverts.  If you don’t, competitors can make the most of your slips of the pen!

If you want to read the full decision then go here http://bit.ly/bsIaXq

ALLI is a weight loss drug.  On the packaging it says you must not use it at all if you are below a certain weight.

Which is great.. unless you get your maths wrong and convert kg into stone incorrectly.. which is what they have done on the new packaging.

For example, if you are 4’10” then you should not use it unless you weigh over 63kg.  They convert this as 9 stone 8 pounds.

However.. 63kg is 138.6 pounds.  10 stones is 140 pounds so you’ll understand it is a just under 10 stones – rounded up it is 9 stone 13 pounds.

How did this go wrong? Well, if you divide the pounds by 14 you get 9.9.  It looks like they just copied that in, not realising that this is a decimal amount – you have to multiply the .9 by 14 to get the ACTUAL number of pounds.

So.. it seems that people are being sold ALLI when they are not safe to use it.  All because of poor basic maths at GSK. I wish it were just one mistake in that table, but they are getting it wrong for all the heights/kg weights on the packs.  I just hope there are no serious consequences!

What are the three traits that the Dragons ALWAYS want in a business?

1. It will make enough money

2. It can’t be copied (at least not easily)

3. Owners that are not idiots

I’m not an accountant – you can tell like I can if a business is making money or not.  Sales – costs.  If you have a business then hopefully it’s making some profit.

So that leaves 2 elements.. something that can’t be copied too easily and owners that aren’t idiots.  We hear about having a USP all the time.  What about a protected USP – a guarantee that your USP is pretty much yours and can be protected.  That’s pretty good…

That is what good IP is about – finding the juice and protecting the grapes.  If you find a good intellectual property lawyer they will tell you what can be protected, what needs to be protected for an investor to like what they are seeing, and how to do it in the most cost-effective way.  Sometimes it’ll be expensive and a long and arduous process; sometimes it will just take a few emails and a couple of minutes’ work.

The last thing is that the owners shouldn’t be idiots.  Why? Because we like to buy from people we trust, like and admire.  Dragons Den is a bit like X-Factor nowadays.. lots of teary stories, and the occasional singer with a guitar.  Great stuff, and it sells lots of products because people invest in the owner.   If you are a Twitter person or a blogger then you know the importance of personal branding…

If you are not sure what is worth protecting in your business, and how to protect it, then get in touch with me

I learn via http://www.cyber-ipr.com/news4.html that India is soon to join the Madrid Protocol.

This is great news – it means that companies can cover India under trade mark applications without having to deal too much with local attorneys.  It also means that Indian companies with brands can get protection in the UK and Europe without using European attorneys unless there are problems.

For trade mark owners, there is a major additional benefit to International Registrations – lower maintenance costs.  One big expense with trade marks is their maintenance and the cost of keeping the records up to date.  International Registrations are cheaper and easier to look after, as you don’t need to use separate attorneys in each country.

If you are thinking about expanding your rights into more countries then send me an email message and we can talk about the best ways to do this without spending too much!

As reported on http://patentlawip.blogspot.com/2010/07/black-sabbath-trademark-dispute-ozzy-vs.html, two of the former members of Black Sabbath have settled their differences over the trade mark BLACK SABBATH.

Always nice when two parties settle on appropriate terms – on this occasion, the former members are to share the mark.  It once again throws in the question of disorganised groups of people.  Fate often throws people together on projects.  Bands are getting better at having formal agreements about the name of the band and the income, although those that read my blog will know about the trouble the Sugababes seem to have got themselves into.

If you have a loose arrangement with a group of people that you are creating things with, or are doing business with, then think hard about putting something down on paper so that everyone knows where they stand if you are successful or if it all falls apart.