Completing Brand And Design Clearance

The phrase brand and design clearance captures a whole array of things, but fundamentally refers to the checks that a company runs during the stage at which it is creating or establishing its brand and/or designs. In this podcast, Salmah Ebrahim discusses the dos and don'ts when it comes to brand and design clearance.

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Kate Swaine: Hello. Welcome to Gowling WLG's podcast on brand and design clearance. My name is Kate Swaine and I am Head of the Brands sub-team that sits within our Intellectual Property team here at Gowling WLG. I am going to be talking to one of our senior associates, Salmah Ebrahim, about brand and design clearance, the dos and don'ts and the issues we typically advise clients to be alert to.

So Salmah, please can you tell us what we mean by brand and design clearance?

Salmah Ebrahim: The phrase brand and design clearance captures a whole array of things but fundamentally it refers to the checks that a company runs during the stage at which it is creating or establishing its brand and/or designs. Brand clearance, for example, can cover anything from checking that the proposed name for a new product is acceptable in light of trade marks or company names that already exist in the market, to ensuring that any marketing or advertising relating to that product complies with the advertising standards set by regulatory bodies such as Advertising Standards Authority. Similarly, design clearance can cover anything from checking that a proposed design has not already been thought up by a competitor or registered to ensuring that the design meets manufacturing and safety standards.

Ultimately, trying to reduce or ideally eliminate any exposure to a legal claim being brought in the future is at the heart of brand and design clearance. Our intellectual property team here at Gowling WLG works with its diverse range of clients to manage or eliminate any risk of an intellectual property right infringement claim being brought in the future, as a consequence of the brand or design a company has developed.

Kate Swaine: Who should be involved in brand and design clearance?

Salmah Ebrahim: The saying that too many cooks spoil the broth certainly does not apply in the context of brand and design clearance. Our advice to clients is to always try and ensure that all relevant persons from the business are involved and spoken to as soon as the brand and design process begins, and this includes their legal team, whether it be their in-house legal counsel or external lawyers such as ourselves. The reason for this is quite simple: lawyers have been trained to...