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I've been the director of a limited company since 2008 which was established in 2004. We are a small, local business but are actively trading. After coming through some recent personal issues I wanted to start to build business up and decided to start by setting up a website and getting some more advertising going. I decided to start by googling us and seeing what currently comes up.
When I typed in our company name, the first result is us at the companies house beta, which is what I was expecting. The second is our name but with 'franchise' stuck between the name and limited. Taking a look, it seems they've been trading since 2015 but changed their name in April this year. The directors also have several other companies with related names registered in 2015 - all with location names included and not local to me, but in the same industry area. They also have a website which says they've been trading since 2009 (although from what I can see none of the businesses have been active that long).
I looked up what to do if someone uses your name and found a lot of stuff about companies house and trademarks. I went to see and, sure enough, they registered my company name as a trademark in 2015.
I'm now in a huge panic about what this means. Obviously, I've been trading longer but they're a much bigger business, they own the trademark on the name, have the fancy website..
Where do I stand and what should I do? It never occurred to me that someone could register a business with such a similar name, let alone that they might try to turn it into a UK franchise. Surely they must have had to check the name wasn't in use before they set up?
Can they stop me trading using my company name? I'm frightened that if I contact them, they're going to start legal action against me and I'm not in a financial position to fight them if they do. I'm literally just getting back on my feet!
I feel like such an idiot for not noticing before that this had happened. I vaguely remember seeing that someone had set up "[our company name] York" but since that's hundreds of miles away it didn't seem like a big deal at the time. I feel like such an idiot and I don't know where to turn for advice..
I've been the director of a limited company since 2008 which was established in 2004. We are a small, local business but are actively trading. After coming through some recent personal issues I wanted to start to build business up and decided to start by setting up a website and getting some more advertising going. I decided to start by googling us and seeing what currently comes up.
When I typed in our company name, the first result is us at the companies house beta, which is what I was expecting. The second is our name but with 'franchise' stuck between the name and limited. Taking a look, it seems they've been trading since 2015 but changed their name in April this year. The directors also have several other companies with related names registered in 2015 - all with location names included and not local to me, but in the same industry area. They also have a website which says they've been trading since 2009 (although from what I can see none of the businesses have been active that long).
I looked up what to do if someone uses your name and found a lot of stuff about companies house and trademarks. I went to see and, sure enough, they registered my company name as a trademark in 2015.
I'm now in a huge panic about what this means. Obviously, I've been trading longer but they're a much bigger business, they own the trademark on the name, have the fancy website..
Where do I stand and what should I do? It never occurred to me that someone could register a business with such a similar name, let alone that they might try to turn it into a UK franchise. Surely they must have had to check the name wasn't in use before they set up?
Can they stop me trading using my company name? I'm frightened that if I contact them, they're going to start legal action against me and I'm not in a financial position to fight them if they do. I'm literally just getting back on my feet!
I feel like such an idiot for not noticing before that this had happened. I vaguely remember seeing that someone had set up "[our company name] York" but since that's hundreds of miles away it didn't seem like a big deal at the time. I feel like such an idiot and I don't know where to turn for advice..
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