[Ian Gourlay]

I use a trading name. I know of at least two other carpet cleaners using the same name.

I tecently looked at a new Franchise company and their trading name has a small r after the name at the top.

Does this mean that they are the only ones allowed to use this name.

Or could I trade as Chemdry, Safeclean etc if I do not use their logo. and they did not have a franchise in my area.

About 16 years ago there was a Court case between Harrods of London and a local shop that trades as Harrods.

I believe the local shop won as it still trades as Harrods.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

If I remember correctly r with a circle around it means recommended.

Shaun

[SteveTruman]

Ian
I think you will find that it was a little c which means it is copyrighted. So basically Chem Dry have sole rights to the name and logo's of anything to do with the name Chem Dry

[Robert_O]

I think the encircled - r appearing after a company name means 'Registered'. This means that the name is a registered trade mark and cannot be used by any other company.

Regards

Robert

[Dynafoam]

Ian,

Way back when I started in this industry it was illegal for a sole trader or partnership to trade under a name other than your own, or the fullnames of the partners, unless it was registered with The Registrar Of Business Names.

The registrar would refuse to register a duplicate name.

This was an excellent scheme as not only did it prevent multiple, unrelated businesses trading as 'Wonderclean' but it made the individual trader traceable.

Unfortuneately this registry was disbanded in the late 80's and the situation is now far less cut-and-dried. However if you started trading as Chemdry they would undoubtably be able to put a stop to it ( and posibly recover damages) as they are registered as a limited company.

Shaun, The r within a circle means registered.

John.

[Dynafoam]

Robert,

Sorry, I was not parroting your comment - i@m a slow typist!

John.

[Derek]

Hi

You are correct the 'circled R' means it is a registered Trade Mark...it allegedly protects the owner from it's misuse by other people.

The NCCA have the name and Logo registered in this way

Why, were you thinking of trading as Chem Dry, Safeclean or Servicemaster?

I have seen subtle but obvious variations of the Servicemaster name over the years

Derek

[Robert_O]

You put it so much more eloquently though John!!!

I finally got around to doing a shorter post that anyone else in my explanation, that is a first!!!

Regards

Robert

[Ian Gourlay]

I was not thinking of trading as Chem Dry just an example.

But I know of at least three other carpet cleaners using the same name as me and as it is not that origional there are probably loads more.

As far as I know at last checking the I could still be Ltd using the name.

I was looking at the Web site of aNew to UK Franchise company and their name is similar  but not the same as mine and had the r circled

I was wondering what would happen if sombody started a Franchise company using the same name.
Where do I go t get my name with a circled r after it.

Also am I registering the Trading Name
or the Trade Mark   ie Logo using that name.

For instants

 Alltec writen in a certain way is a trade mark

and Select Team written in a certain way is a trade mark.

I do not think you can copyright the words Select Team because football managers do it twice a week.

Regards

Ian

[Derek]

Ian

I do take your point...

The NCCA went down this avenue a few years ago and it took a lot of time for someone to do it, plus two and a half years to get everything into place, the final bit to swallow is the cost ...around two and a half thousand pounds.

E.g.   I think that there are so many Companies called 'Busy Bee' in the UK it would constitute a swarm.

Cheers
Derek