What´s In A Name? Branding Using Given Names And Surnames

First published in the Lexis Nexis Australian Intellectual Property Law Bulletin, February 2008

Some of the world's biggest brands are not invented words but are built around surnames and given names, often of their founders. There are McDonald's, Ford, Tiffany's, Yves St Laurent, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Moet Hennessey, Chanel and Ferrari, just to name a few.

Obviously in these big businesses the registration of those words as trade marks in the jurisdiction in which they trade are a crucial part of their asset protection strategy, but even start-ups often want to register their name as a trade mark at the outset, particularly in consumer goods industries and where there has been a good deal of upfront capital expenditure in launching the brand.