{"id":168710,"date":"2022-04-25T08:00:37","date_gmt":"2022-04-25T07:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/?p=168710"},"modified":"2024-04-25T22:35:20","modified_gmt":"2024-04-25T21:35:20","slug":"ip-disputes-smes-consider","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/ip-disputes-smes-consider","title":{"rendered":"IP Disputes \u2013 What Should SMEs Consider?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This March, UK supermarkets Waitrose and Asda became embroiled in the latest IP dispute, with Waitrose sending a legal letter to Asda after it released a discount product range that looked \u2013 well, suspiciously similar to Waitrose\u2019s according to the supermarket. Two days prior, Asda had introduced its \u2018Just Essentials\u2019 range, a budget line which claims to offer \u201cthe largest value range in the market\u201d. However, all the excitement was swiftly quashed by Waitrose\u2019s claim that the brand was too similar to its own \u2018Essential Waitrose\u2019 range, which launched back in 2009. We\u2019re still waiting for a response from Asda \u2013 but Waitrose has made it crystal clear that it could go to court if the issue fails to be addressed. <\/strong><\/p>\n

It is worrying that a word as commonplace as \u2018essential\u2019 has caused this blight, as it demonstrates how tricky it can be to know what the intellectual property parameters actually are, and what is and isn\u2019t considered IP infringement. It can, in particular, be concerning for owners of smaller businesses who simply cannot afford to get into IP disputes with other companies. So, how to avoid them?<\/p>\n

Make sure your licence is right (or go royalty-free)<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you are using registered material, you must make sure you\u2019ve obtained the correct licencing to do so, as well as written consent from its owners. Otherwise, you could be in a sticky situation. If you don\u2019t want to create your own images and music, or you don\u2019t want to pay someone to do it for you, there is always the option of using royalty-free media. These are free for commercial use and require no attribution, so it\u2019s pretty plain-sailing. There are loads of sites where you can download free-of-charge music and images. Not bad! The only issue is, your choice is often limited, and free stock artwork is renowned by many \u2013 fairly or unfairly – for being generic, which it\u2019s worth considering if you\u2019re looking to stand out amongst your competitors.<\/p>\n

Be original<\/strong><\/p>\n

On that note, ever wondered why the music at your favourite clothing store is so mediocre? It\u2019s likely because they don\u2019t have the licencing to play the tunes you like. Whoever holds the copyright over a song controls the right to play it publicly \u2013 in which case, if you want to play it in your store, you\u2019ll need to gain their permission and likely pay a fee. In order to overcome this, businesses can create their own pictures, logos and music. You can do this yourself or you can hire someone else to do it \u2013 if the latter, though, make sure to include a contract which specifically states that the content they create belongs to the business \u2013 not to them. Otherwise, your freelancer could use the content elsewhere, or sell it to another SME, meaning they now legally own the content and technically could sue you for IP claims (even though you used it first!) And, if you\u2019re making your own content, it gives you more of a chance of standing out.<\/p>\n

Beware of the nuances<\/strong><\/p>\n

Waitrose is not the first company to legally claim a generic word. Years ago, easyJet\u2019s parent company EasyGroup was suing pretty much everyone \u2013 including an estate agency (easyRealEstate.com), an equity brokerage (Easybroker) and an online art vendor (Easyart.com). But why? Because, as companies diversify and start doing things that aren\u2019t in their core business offering, they don\u2019t want people to associate them with something that isn\u2019t theirs. The Waitrose argument is that people will mistake the \u2018Just Essentials\u2019 range for \u2018Waitrose Essentials\u2019, or assume they\u2019re the same thing. It could confuse the market \u2013 especially as more of us shop online, people who previously only shopped at Waitrose could be encouraged to switch to Asda if it pops up in their search engine results. To make matters even more confusing, Asda and Waitrose both use a lot of green in their product packaging. So, although \u2018essentials\u2019 is an ordinary word, there could be just too many other similarities for it to fly. Note that, meanwhile the popular jewellery shop, Essentials, hasn\u2019t got into any trouble with Waitrose \u2013 because there\u2019s no way they\u2019re going to be mixed up.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Make sure your own IP is protected<\/strong><\/p>\n

Your IP should be legally protected, to prevent it from being used without your permission by others. We\u2019ve seen it happen time and again in the music industry, for example, where popstars have \u2018subconsciously plagiarised\u2019 music from other, much smaller musicians \u2013 often without repercussion. So, make sure you know what constitutes IP – the government website sets it out clearly: the names of your products or brands; your inventions; the design or look of your products; things you write, make or produce – and that your rights over it are protected through means such as copyright, patents, and trademarks. This will mean you have all ownership and authority over how your work is distributed and utilised; plus, it could increase the likelihood of business growth \u2013 a benefit<\/a> reported by SMEs which have applied for IP.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

IP rights can be confusing, but you must make sure you\u2019re not violating them by using protected content illegitimately. To prevent yourself from becoming an unintentional IP thief, make sure all creative work you\u2019re using is either your own, or something you\u2019ve got the correct licencing to use \u2013 and to protect your own IP, seek legal advice \u2013 it’s essential (if we\u2019re still allowed to use that word).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This March, UK supermarkets Waitrose and Asda became embroiled in the latest IP dispute, with Waitrose sending a legal letter to Asda after it released a discount product range that looked \u2013 well, suspiciously similar to Waitrose\u2019s according to the supermarket.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26309,"featured_media":168711,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11041],"tags":[11976,11930],"class_list":["post-168710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advice","tag-rb-2022","tag-rb-april"],"views":2719,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26309"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168710\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realbusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}