The plant-based space is bursting with innovation, creativity, and inventiveness. But how do you protect the fruits of your labour from being stolen or copied as a plant-forward business?
ProVeg International recently published an article on their latest webinar, ‘An Introduction to Intellectual Property’ (IP), which explores the importance for plant-forward businesses to protect their IP and how to do so.
During the eye-opening webinar, ProVeg partnered with Withers and Rogers, a leading UK and European firm of patent and trademark attorneys with an active base in the food and drink market.
The Withers and Rogers experts who participated were Partner and Chartered Trademark Attorney Mark Caddle and Associate Georgia Mann, who, together, head up Withers and Rogers’ specialist food and drink group.
Some of the key topics covered include:
- What intellectual property (IP) is and the main types
- Why IP is important for plant-forward businesses
- The first steps to take to protect your products
- Best practice examples of businesses with successful IP strategies, and common mistakes to avoid when it comes to IP
- The importance of risk management in relation to IP, along with the financial considerations
So, for those of you developing the next best thing in the plant-based sector, what are the first steps? Protect your efforts and your business by applying for a trademark.
Trademark claim and search
During the webinar, Caddle explained that you want to avoid launching your brand after you’ve invested time, money, and passion, just to be told that someone else has beaten you to it and already has a trademark registration for your offering. However, you can easily avoid this risk by conducting what Withers and Rogers calls a ‘trademark claim and search’.
“You search in the countries of interest to you – and these rights are territorial,” said Caddle, “to make sure you’re not going to infringe someone else’s trademark when your product is launched. Otherwise, you may have to rebrand, take your products off the shelves, and start again. So, do that ASAP once you’ve created a brand before you’ve even spent money on packaging.”
He continued: “I won’t elaborate on what a trademark registration process is, but essentially, you fill out an application form to tell the government what the trademark is, or what products or services you want to use it for, and they check if it’s legally suitable. They also give third parties a chance to challenge the application. If they have other trademark rights that they allege to be too close to yours, they might try and stop your trademark from becoming registered.”
“Anything that is part of the brand identity should be considered a trademark and registered,” Caddle said, “and that includes letters, words, logos, numbers, shapes (like the Toblerone triangle shape), and even slogans (depending on how unique it is), smells (though that doesn’t happen often!), sounds, colour usage, and digital assets.”
“The absolute test is whether or not a trademark is ‘distinctive’,” said Caddle. “Your trademark has to distinguish what you do; it can’t just describe what the product is.”
“A good example would be the word ‘Impossible’, from the plant-based meat company. It’s a known term and [points to the idea that the company] has achieved something that humanity thought was impossible – there’s a nod to that, but it doesn’t mean anything in terms of the product; it doesn’t describe its characteristics or that it’s a non-meat product. It’s a creative and unique concept – something that’s readily registerable as a trademark.”
Read the complete webinar summary and watch the webinar to learn more about specific trademarks and patents, and to hear answers to common IP questions.
If you want more insight and advice on IP and protecting your products, make sure to read Withers and Rogers’ How-To Guide on ProVeg’s New Food Hub. Keep an eye out for the next webinar in the series, and don’t waste any time finding out the ways in which ProVeg can help you drive your company’s sales.
