Danny
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The Plasterers ForumⓇ is now a Registered Trademark
So for the last 12 or so months I have been battling the intellectual property office (IPO) to try and register the trademark "The Plasterers Forum".... with any trademark it cannot be descriptive so for example you cannot trademark the "The Coffee Shop" because it is a shop that sells coffee and so registering "The Plasterers Forum" was always going to be a challenge...
I have had to go to extreme lengths to prove that "The Plasterers Forum" is an authority and I mean very in depth proof, I have had to get letters from the likes of BG Knauf Mapei and a number of other big players in the industry to get it.
It was rejected 3 or 4 times by the IPO and I had to really start pulling out the big guns. I hired a company that was charging £175 per hour +VAT and they got to work and built a case for us and submitted the application on appeal to the IPO. We used case law to carve a precedent and finally in december the IPO granted us the trademark "The Plasterers Forum".
However that was not the end.... there is a 2 month wait where it gets published and you have to wait for someone to object it... if someone objects it and then it has to go and wait for a further 3 months... and then that would be another massive cost ....So you can understand why I have kept it a secret and made companies that have helped basically keep shtum about it.
Well the 2 month deadline was up then there was a 14 days wait to make sure no objections are in the post etc and well that ended tonight... I have been on the edge of my seat for the last few weeks.....
So what does this mean for TPF?
It means that nobody can use "The Plasterers Forum" or anything similiar without my permission at least I have a strong case against anybody that tries it. In fact anybody individual that uses it without my approval is going to be risking a legal pursuit by my lawyers.
There are numerous sites out there that have been deliberately passing off as TPF or at least trying to and that will if all goes well will be stopped.
Why Have I done it?
We have got to the size and scale where people are trying to piggy back the forum and I have now invested a lot of time and money into the site and if I did not register it there was the risk of someone else trying to do it and that could mean the end of TPF... Other people were trtying to get legal on us and it was becoming a problem!
Getting the trademark is a massive milestone and is the first major step in a long process of steps but fingers crossed it will be stepping in the right direction
So thats the news...lol may not seem much but its a milestone
I am off for a beer
So for the last 12 or so months I have been battling the intellectual property office (IPO) to try and register the trademark "The Plasterers Forum".... with any trademark it cannot be descriptive so for example you cannot trademark the "The Coffee Shop" because it is a shop that sells coffee and so registering "The Plasterers Forum" was always going to be a challenge...
I have had to go to extreme lengths to prove that "The Plasterers Forum" is an authority and I mean very in depth proof, I have had to get letters from the likes of BG Knauf Mapei and a number of other big players in the industry to get it.
It was rejected 3 or 4 times by the IPO and I had to really start pulling out the big guns. I hired a company that was charging £175 per hour +VAT and they got to work and built a case for us and submitted the application on appeal to the IPO. We used case law to carve a precedent and finally in december the IPO granted us the trademark "The Plasterers Forum".
However that was not the end.... there is a 2 month wait where it gets published and you have to wait for someone to object it... if someone objects it and then it has to go and wait for a further 3 months... and then that would be another massive cost ....So you can understand why I have kept it a secret and made companies that have helped basically keep shtum about it.
Well the 2 month deadline was up then there was a 14 days wait to make sure no objections are in the post etc and well that ended tonight... I have been on the edge of my seat for the last few weeks.....
So what does this mean for TPF?
It means that nobody can use "The Plasterers Forum" or anything similiar without my permission at least I have a strong case against anybody that tries it. In fact anybody individual that uses it without my approval is going to be risking a legal pursuit by my lawyers.
There are numerous sites out there that have been deliberately passing off as TPF or at least trying to and that will if all goes well will be stopped.
Why Have I done it?
We have got to the size and scale where people are trying to piggy back the forum and I have now invested a lot of time and money into the site and if I did not register it there was the risk of someone else trying to do it and that could mean the end of TPF... Other people were trtying to get legal on us and it was becoming a problem!
Getting the trademark is a massive milestone and is the first major step in a long process of steps but fingers crossed it will be stepping in the right direction
So thats the news...lol may not seem much but its a milestone
I am off for a beer
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