Here at Clothes2order, we take great pride in creating bespoke, personalised uniforms for a variety of businesses across a number of industries. We know how important logos are, how vital logo placement is, and what a pivotal role they play as a part of a business’s branding.
A logo is front and centre of a business and is placed in many different touchpoints. Therefore, it’s important to take steps to protect your logo, so you can’t be copied and imitated by others. Learn more about how to create a logo in our handy blog.
A way this can be done is by registering to copyright your logo.
What is a Copyright?
A copyright is a legal term which defines the ownership of something. Examples of what can be copyrighted includes an invention, an artistic work or a symbol. A copyright protects the owners work from being used by someone else without their permission. The © symbol is common way to see if something has been copyrighted.
Copyright and Logos
In terms of a company logo within the UK, a logo is classed as ‘work of artistic creation.’ Therefore, logos which include artistic or design elements are protected under copyright law. You need to make sure that your logo is distinctive. We see distinctive logos pass through our doors every day. There are many ways to make a logo distinctive. For example, its a good idea to keep your logo simple both in its design and colour scheme. Avoid using too many special effects and using visual clichés. Be sure to think outside the box to distinguish from others.
Here are some examples of popular distinctive logos:
However, be aware that having a copyright for your logo will not protect your brand name. It also will not protect your logo if it is just the name on its own. You brand name would be to be protected by other means such as a trademark.
What Should be Considered Before Registering a Copyright?
A key first consideration is the suitability of your current logo. For example, is your logo functional and suitable to be placed in different areas such as uniform, website and signage. Your logo is a visual representation of your brand and it gives potential customers an immediate first impression of you. So, it’s important that your logo suitably reflects the message of your brand.
Additionally, within your logo you need to consider the suitability for copyright purposes. This is because you cannot copyright names, familiar symbols or familiar designs. Therefore, your logo should not contain these elements in order to be copyrighted. The logo must be creative and unique to your business.
Its incredibly important to check if your logo has been as been already trademarked or copyrighted. Many logo creation sites online work with templates. This can be detrimental as somebody else may have used a similar template for their logo. But if you have commission a bespoke logo it is very unlikely that it already exists. Existing logos can be checked on a government website. You need to also make sure that your logo contains the copyright symbol ©. This can either be within your logo or to the right of it.
Additionally, you need to own the intellectual property of your logo artwork. This means that you have created it or purchased the intellectual property rights from the creator or previous owner. You will also need the date when it was created.
How to Copyright a Logo
Once you have made the necessary considerations, the next step is to register your logo for copyright. Within the UK, this can be online with the Intellectual Property Office. Simply follow the steps on the website. You will need to pay a fee to register your logo for copyright. The fee will be dependant on the number of logos. This can take up to 5 months to be processed. Upon a successful application your logo will be protected as intellectual property.
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