Member Blog

Accident [Slowing down for better fleet accident management] management is a big part of any fleet manager’s job, and speeding has recently been revealed as a major problem for many British businesses. Research has found that company car drivers are more reckless than private motorists on UK roads, so how can driver education help to slow the problem down?

Adding up the numbers

According to the RAC’s Report on Motoring 2014, a startling 88% of company car drivers in the UK admitted to regularly exceeding the legal speed limit on motorways. A significantly lower 67% of private motorists confessed to breaking the law, although this figure is still worryingly high.

In research by the RAC, 62% of company car drivers stated that they reached speeds of 80mph on motorways, and 8% admitted to exceeding 90mph.

Drivers justified their speeding offences in various ways. While 31% argued that they were following the general flow of traffic and 19% claimed driving conditions were favourable, 15% said 70mph “felt too slow” and 8% argued that modern cars are built to go faster than the speed limit dictates.

Tackling speed offences in accident management

This research draws attention to a common concern that many company car drivers consider speeding on a motorway more socially acceptable than speeding on any other road. In fact, 65% of company car drivers argued that it is acceptable to break the 70mph limit and travel at up to 80mph.

Interestingly, 90% of company car drivers agreed that they would be in favour of an increase in the speed limit on motorways, in contrast with a significantly lower 69% of other motorists.

Company car drivers are the worst offenders for motorway speeding in the UK, so it’s important that speed compliance is closely monitored and addressed. Fleet accident management relies on safe driving practices being taught, encouraged and even enforced across the entire workforce, so that every at-work driver is aware of their responsibilities on the road. Remember, your company is legally responsible for any employee driving for work, so if they’re not safe neither are you!

Speeding is bad for business

David Aldridge, business services director at RAC, explained: “Whilst drivers may feel tempted to save time in the working day by going faster, any fleet manager knows that collecting speeding points is ultimately bad for business.

“Telematics is useful for fleet managers who want to monitor driver behaviour more closely and check company car drivers’ compliance with national speed limits. This can not only improve driver behaviour but help managers operate a more efficient, cost effective and sustainable fleet.”

We can provide the award-winning Quartix Telematics system in any of our contract hire vehicles. This technology uses GPS, GPRS and the internet to allow users access to live and historical fleet information from any computer. Regular logs can even be emailed to you directly, delivering the right data at the right time to suit you.

We can also help your business fleet on the road by providing accident management services, such as full breakdown cover, comprehensive servicing and even replacement vehicles.

It [Fleet management – to outsource or not to outsource?] can be tricky to successfully outsource something as important as your vehicle fleet, especially if it impacts upon your core business activities. However, we want to share three simple reasons why outsourcing fleet management services to an industry expert can make your life easier.

The three E’s of fleet management

It doesn’t matter what industry you’re operating in – every company that runs vehicles should be focused on improving the efficiency, economy and evaluation of its fleet.

Economy

Commercial vans and trucks are very expensive to acquire and maintain, and it’s essential that your vehicle fleet doesn’t become a financial black hole.

There is no reason to outsource fleet management if it will be more expensive than managing it in-house. However, it’s likely that a professional company could save you money in the long term.

Van leasing companies can offer competitive prices for vehicles and services, as industry connections and economies of scale often allow them to achieve lower costs than your business would incur. Some leasing contracts include MOTs, maintenance work and even breakdown cover in the price, which reduces the risk of any unexpected costs popping up.

Investigate whether a professional fleet management provider could help to bring overheads down before you make your decision.

Efficiency

We know that fleet managers often juggle several job roles at once. This can make it difficult to stay on top of all the little details that can influence the productivity of the entire business.

Rather than asking the impossible from overworked employees, why not lend them a helping hand? The more tasks you can automate in your vehicle fleet, the easier it will be to increase efficiency.

Fleet management solutions can help you to keep on top of complex operations. By having an industry expert to hand around the clock, your staff can focus their full attention on core business activities.

Evaluation

It is extremely important to evaluate the performance of your entire fleet to ensure that it is providing value to the business. However, keeping track of all this data and making sense of it can be a mammoth task.

The ideal solution is online fleet management software which enables employees to log all vehicle data remotely. The software can then track patterns and report on fleet activities independently, and dashboard visuals can make this data simple to read.

Picking between fleet management companies

If you’re trying to pick the best fleet management provider for your company, consider their industry expertise. Which firm can relate best to your pains, and what benefits can they offer your company?

We have spent decades working with customers from a wide range of industries, so we understand how to cater to specialist needs. With our help, your business can flourish. Contact us today to find out more.

Domain names play an important role in the sales and marketing activity of any organisation, but it’s all too easy to overlook the IP implications of registering and managing online channels. Where then should you begin when developing a domain name management strategy?We set out points to consider when seeking to align domain name registrations with trademark rights.

1. What? To begin, consider what you should register – and start to construct a hierarchy of registrations or potential registrations. Typically, your company name should be on top; followed by your core (and preferably trademark-protected) brand and product/service names; and then your secondary or lesser known brands. As part of this, you should also consider defensive registrations; for example, common misspellings of your company or brand names, or terms/brands/slogans with which you are commonly associated. Finally, one-off registrations (e.g. associated with a new product launch or marketing campaign) will need to be recorded and maintained.

2. Where? Or rather, in the case of domain names, with which registries? These days, it’s quite hard to find available domain names with the popular and wide-reaching .com, which is why the top-level domain was extended in the first place to include a myriad of other possible dotBrand extensions. This gives you as a brand owner a lot more choice, but it also makes it harder to identify which extensions will resonate best with your customer base – and can leave you open to infringement activity. For example, should you choose a geographical-based domain (e.g. .London or .co.uk), or will this limit your market? Should you opt for one of the new sector-focused extensions (e.g. .shop or .green), or wait to see if they catch on first? And, what about those extensions that you choose not to register – how can you be sure that a third party won’t seek to make a profit from that decision or oversight? Ongoing monitoring will be key to ensuring that you stay on top of any malicious activity as new domains begin to hit the market.

3. When? Trademark holders benefit from early registration rights on the launch of a new domain name extension. In the so-called Sunrise period (which lasts at least 30 days), only trademark owners can register domain names that match their brands before the extension in question becomes available to the general public. The only restriction is that the trademark(s) must be registered at the Trademark Clearinghouse, something Novagraaf can arrange for you. For pre-existing extensions, it will be important to check for availability as early as possible in the product launch cycle; particularly, if you wish to keep the domains registered as consistent as possible.

4. How? Domain names are not expensive rights to obtain or maintain; however, the time and cost of pursuing third parties for infringement action can quickly add up, as can the loss in revenue and reputation from allowing such sites to continue trading unchallenged. Consider approaching your domain name portfolio as you would your other IP assets; in particular, by: holding the records in one central location with clear management responsibilities; putting in place clear processes for registration, monitoring and enforcement; and, undertaking regular reviews to ensure that the portfolio as registered and maintained is aligned with your trademark portfolio and wider business activity.

5. Who? Websites have historically been the territory of the marketing team, and there is a lot of sense in keeping things that way. However, any team responsible for domain name registrations needs to have at least a basic understanding of trademark rights as they crossover with domain name law and practice. Consider running training sessions with your marketing team to set out your rules as to trademark use, and to provide them with clear channels of communication should they come up against third-party registrations or other online activity that contravenes those rules.

It’s not what you like that matters – you have to consider your customers.

Pete Goodrum. Writer, Broadcaster, Consultant.

The part of the marketing process that’s concerned with conveying your message to potential customers is a constantly moveable feast. Time was that it was easy and all- embracing to call it ‘advertising’. As the process became more complex we added extra labels, like ‘sales promotion’, and embraced ‘public relations’ into the marketing mix. ‘Marketing Communications Company’ became the new ‘Advertising Agency’ for a while, and then something unprecedented happened. Suddenly we had ‘Digital Agencies’.

This wasn’t inappropriate because the rise in importance of digital communications had called for the emergence of specialists. What was odd was that, for the first time, we were branding communications, or advertising, businesses by the medium in which they specialised. I can recall no ‘Newspaper Advertising Agency’, nor ‘TV Advertising Agency’.

The increase in choice of media available though was welcome, and has brought about advances and opportunities in promoting businesses and brands. But, was there a danger of ‘medium overtaking message’? Was there so much enthusiasm to use digital media that sometimes they were selected, and messages constructed for them, when they were perhaps not the sole, nor indeed best, medium to reach the target audience?

And that brings the argument to the fundamental point about advertising and marketing communications that has remained unchanged throughout the decades of evolving media choices. Identifying your target audience is crucial. Establishing the best medium, or media, to reach them is the next and equally important issue. And then, most importantly of all, create the message that, carried by those media, will enthuse and inspire that target audience to buy from you. Here’s the thing. That message must be appropriate to that audience. It must give them a reason to buy. And it must speak their language.

If that language is not yours, or the visual treatment of the advertising is not to your personal taste, it doesn’t matter. It’s what communicates best with your audience that counts.

Which is where the professional advertising practitioner comes in. The writer, the art director, the strategist; they know what’s needed to do the job. You wouldn’t disagree with the electrician rewiring your house because you don’t like the colour of the wires, or the surgeon about to make you better because you think another procedure would be better. So why would you disagree with an advertising professional because you don’t like yellow, or sentences beginning with and. And that’s something that happens, every day.

It’s unlikely that an external advertising or marketing professional knows your product or service better than you do. But there’s a very real chance that you don’t know the techniques of promotion as well as them.

It’s simple really. When it comes to advertising, in all its forms and media, it’s not what you like that matters – you have to consider your customers.

The recent changes to the Married Couples Allowance for individuals born after 6th April 1935 will allow you to transfer some of your Personal Allowance to your partner. This update has not yet been put into effect and interested parties can register their interest on the Government website who willemail youwhen the changes are fully implemented.

Personal Allowance is the figure that you as an individual are able to earn before being taxed, currently £10,000 and increasing to £10,600 on the 6th April. If your income for the 2015/2016 tax year is less than your Personal Allowance you may be able to reduce your husband, wife or civil partner’s tax by up to £212 (10%).

This is positive news for couples where one of you has zero earnings or £1,060 or more of their Personal Allowance remaining – by utilising the new marriage allowance you can make full use of the initiative and claim back the £212.

Eligibility

In order to claim Marriage Allowance, the following conditions apply:

• You are married or in a civil partnership
• You have an annual income of less than £10,600 – including pensions, savings and investments
• Your spouse or civil partner has an annual income of between £10,601 and £42,385
• You are both born after 6th April 1935

The Married Couples Allowance

There is also an allowance for married couples where one or both of you are born before 6th April 1935. This allowance can reduce your tax bill by £314 to £816.50 a year. This can be claimed either through your annual tax return or, if you aren’t required to fill one you can contact HMRC and inform them with details of your marital date and the date of birth of both you and your partner.

To get advice on this update, contact your nearest office and speak to one of our specialist tax advisors.

www.astonshaw.co.uk

You can tell it’s election season because politicians are wooing the business community. Whatever your view on the policies, one recent announcement is good for Norfolk and Suffolk businesses. That is the extension of the super connected cities broadband voucher scheme to Norwich and Ipswich.

Like many of you, we were disappointed not to see Norwich in the super connected cities initiative when it launched in 2011. The scheme’s £150m Urban Broadband Fund provides connection vouchers worth up to £3,000 to help SMEs access superfast broadband. It is already available in 22 cities including Cambridge and Peterborough but, up to now, the New Anglia region has missed out.

On 19 February, the government announced that the “broadband connection voucher scheme …will be available in Norwich and Ipswich from 1 April.” While it is an unfortunate choice of date, you’d be foolish to ignore this opportunity to boost your business’s connectivity and competitiveness. Over 5,000 SMEs have taken up the offer with thousands more expected to do so by 31 March 2015.

Collaboration is key to connectivity

We already have fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) across much of Norwich but installing fibre to the premises (FTTP) can still be prohibitively expensive for many businesses. Even £3,000 in vouchers might not cover the full cost of connection. However, according to the BBC, the scheme has a little known feature that could really boost uptake – the ability for businesses to pool their resources.

Apparently, EU competition rules originallyprevented the government from telling people about this feature but that has now changed. However, the only example I can find of such collaboration is at Perseverance Works, a collaborative workspace in Shoreditch (as mentioned in the BBC report). The idea appears to be the brainchild of The Independent Networks Cooperative Association – and anyone interested in exploring it further might like to contact them to find out how it worked.

Supercharge your business

The benefits of superfast broadband are probably obvious to most of you. They include improved customer experience, faster file sharing, enhanced video-calls and more cost effective use of cloud services. As well as boosting individual businesses, this type of investment should enable East Anglia to maintain its position as “one of the fastest growing regions in the UK.”

Naturally, there are various eligibility criteria for the vouchers – you will need to check these carefully when applying. If you run an SME, charity, social enterprise or are a sole trader, you can use the scheme to connect your business premises; this apparently includes your home if it is your main office. The cost of installing a new broadband connection to your business has to be more than £100 and you have to sign a minimum 6-month contract with your supplier. Norwich City Council has now launched the scheme and has full details, including a postcode checker, on it site.

There are now over 600 registered suppliers to the scheme, including many of the big names in the broadband telephony business. While that may seem daunting, we are sure organisations such as NWES, the New Anglia Growth Hub, and Norfolk Chamber will gear up to help local SMEs navigate the application process. We hope this will lead to a higher take-up than elsewhere in the UK, so confirming our region’s appetite for a high-tech future.

If you’d like to discuss any points raised in this blog, please contact me on twitter or by email.

Novagraaf UK’s Dr Peter Wilson sets out the IP elements to consider when developing or updating an export strategy.

When companies consider their assets, they may think first of tangible assets, such as equipment, stock, buildings or products. But, intangible assets are just as (and often more) valuable, and can be impossible to replace.

Brands and logos, company manuals and operating procedures, know-how and expertise, advertising materials, design, technology… your company owns valuable intellectual property (IP) that will help it to grow and expand overseas. But, to do that effectively, your IP needs to be appropriately protected with trademark, patent and/or design registrations, and associated filings and agreements.

Similar considerations apply whether you sell your products nationally or overseas:

Safeguard your brand and product names as trademarks:

• Why: By registering your unique company and brand names as trademarks, you’ll have the rights and procedures in place to stop others from using them without your permission, or registering them for their own use.
• Where: Ideally, you should begin by registering trademarks in your home market and key markets of trade, manufacture and transport.
• Extending protection into new export markets: National trademark registrations also afford a six-month ‘right of priority’ in most countries (meaning that you have a priority right to the registered name or logo should you seek to extend your rights into new markets). However, you can still file applications after this date, providing the trademark hasn’t already been registered in your sector (or class).
• How: Brand owners can choose to register their rights as individual applications in each chosen country, register a CTM for all EU countries, or a Madrid Protocol application (up to 81 countries, including China, Japan, Korea, US, Australia and the EU).

Find out more: What is a trademark? Protecting your brand, product, company name and logo

Protect inventions as patents:

• Why: Patent registration gives you the right to stop others from ‘working your invention’. Products and processes from all sectors of industry can be protected with patents, don’t assume it’s only the hi-tech companies that can benefit.
• Where: Businesses generally begin with a national right. But note, certain rules apply; most importantly, you must file the patent before disclosing the invention
• Extending protection into new export markets: National rights award a 12-month ‘right of priority’ in which that same patent can be filed in new territories.
• How: Companies can seek additional individual national applications, but it is generally advisable to use one of the multi-national patent systems such as the EPC (for the EU, plus other European countries) or PCT (provisionally covers more than 180 countries, and delays national filing requirements).

Find out more: What is a patent? Protecting inventions and innovation

Don’t overlook design protection:

• Why: The look and feel of a product can be as important to its market success as its function. In some countries, including the UK and the rest of the EU, unregistered design rights come into effect immediately on creation; however, where the design is a key feature of a product, model or drawing, it is generally advisable to register a design right to protect it. Registered rights are stronger, and last longer.
• Where: For a national (e.g. UK) registration, the design must be registered with the national patent and trademark office. Some countries have a grace period for prior disclosure, but beware of jeopardising patent rights for the same product.
• Extending protection into new export markets: It is generally possible to claim a priority date for a design application made in another country within six months of the first filing.
• How: Companies can seek additional individual national applications either directly or through the Hague Agreement; a Community Registered Design also has effect across the whole of the EU. The duration of protection varies by country (e.g. it’s 25 years in the UK and EU; 14 in the US).

Find out more: What is a design? Models, drawings and a product’s look and feel

Other forms of IP Other unregistered forms of IP include copyright and unregistered design protection, as well as the know-how shared with agents, distributors, manufacturing partners and licensees. These are all valuable forms of IP, which should be recorded and protected in writing, where possible.

Six-point strategy for success

1. Identify: Review your intellectual assets and processes in order to capture your IP rights that you have – or should register. 2. Value: What are your rights worth to you (if you lost them or other people used them)? 3. Protect: Both registered and unregistered IP rights – and remember that rights have geographical scope. 4. Beware other people’s rights: Ensure that you’re not infringing existing rights and consider monitoring what your competitors are doing for market insight. 5. Exploit: Use the rights yourself, or sell/license them to others. 6. Enforce: Act quickly to stop infringers – you don’t always have to end up in court.

Finally, seek advice: the systems are complex with various national and multi-national systems to consider. Prepare yourself in advance to make best and most cost-effective use of the IP registration process.

Dr Peter Wilson is a patent attorney in the Norwich office of Novagraaf UK.

Counterfeit activity is a threat to all modern businesses, affecting their profits, their reputation and, in some cases, the safety of their consumers. But, so persistent is the threat – particularly online – that it can be difficult for companies to know where to start. We set out the answers to some frequently asked questions.

What is anti-counterfeiting – and is it a criminal offence? Counterfeiting describes the process of manufacturing and offering for sale a product (or a range of products) using the brand of a third party without their authorisation. Many counterfeit products are passed off as genuine branded products whereas others are sold to consumers openly as replicas. While some counterfeit products are of inferior quality, many counterfeit products are more or less accurate replicas of the rightful brand owner’s products. As they are sold using a brand that is identical to or substantially indistinguishable from the brand owner’s trademark, consumers may be led to purchase the fake product believing it to be a legitimate item. (Read more)

Do I need an anti-counterfeiting strategy? Counterfeiting affects companies in a wide variety of industries, from fashion to pharmaceuticals. If you have a product or a brand that is popular and in demand, then it’s likely that you are or will become a target for counterfeiters. The threat posed by counterfeiting activity can be hard to quantify, but it should not be underestimated. Typically, a company’s sales and revenue will not only be impacted, but it will also suffer damage to brand reputation (e.g. where a customer mistakenly believes that they have purchased an authentic product and are disappointed with its quality), as well as loss of licensing revenue. (Read more)

What kind of products are at risk of counterfeiting? Counterfeiting affects a broad a variety of goods; from t-shirts to handbags, machinery and automotive parts, toys, batteries, pharmaceuticals, perfumes and electrical goods.

Where are counterfeit goods made? According to recent estimates by the World Customs Organisation, the majority of counterfeit products (approx 75%) are manufactured in the Far East region, mainly China. Other high-risk countries include Hong-Kong, India, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. From these countries, goods are shipped into the UK/EU and sold to end users in retail stores, open markets and through online shops and marketplaces; although, the exact route and origin can vary greatly depending on your business sector. In fast-moving retail sectors, for example, counterfeiting may also take place in the UK.

What can brand owners do to protect their products and brands from counterfeiting? Brand owners can call upon a variety of tools to act against counterfeit activity once it has been identified, but tools and techniques to prevent and identify activity are of particular importance. This includes, for example:

• registering key brand and product names as trademarks, and innovative design features as design rights, so that you can seek legal redress for any unauthorised use of those trademark or design rights (e.g. for the manufacture, distribution and sale of trademarked goods);
• raising awareness of the issues within your business by educating your staff, business partners and customers;
• actively monitoring the online and offline market, recording, reporting and carefully analysing the findings;
• working closely with law enforcement authorities such as the Border Force (Customs) and local Trading Standards offices that have a statutory duty to enforce the criminal provisions of Trademarks Act; and
• taking enforcement action where appropriate.

(Read more)

Someone is trafficking counterfeit copies of my products, what can I do? Recording your trademark rights with Customs in the UK and overseas will enable Customs officials to spot and detain shipments containing related counterfeit goods. There is a cost involved, so focus on Customs in your key markets, as well as in countries that are well-known for manufacturing counterfeit goods or have major transit hubs and international trade ports, such as Dubai and Hong Kong. In addition, it’s important to educate Customs officials on an ongoing basis about your priority products, tell-tale signs for spotting counterfeits and details of who to contact if they have concerns. This can be done by providing a product guide, as well as regular face-to-face training. (Read more)

How do I record my trademarks with Customs? Working with customs authorities in the UK and EU is essential for the success of your anti-counterfeiting efforts. It’s important to record your trademark with customs departments if you are to identify and act against infringing products; however, we would also recommend providing customs with supporting information/examples of your genuine branded goods, their packaging and usual shipping routes when filing the trademark recordal/application for action. This will help customs to detect anything unusual at border control and to identify and alert you to suspicious consignments. A trademark recordal generally lasts one year and is renewable. (Read more)

Someone is selling counterfeit copies of my products online, what should I do? Depending on the circumstances, it may be possible to remove the offer/website from the internet or it may be appropriate to investigate the seller further to find out more information about the product’s suppliers, distribution channel and/or origin in order to stamp them out at source.

Someone is manufacturing fake copies of my products in the UK/overseas, what should I do? If in the UK, you should first investigate and collect all available information, then contact your relevant Trading Standards body in order to coordinate enforcement action with them. If the manufacture is taking place overseas, you will instead need to liaise with local agents or investigators and involve local police and authorities. In both cases, you might find it simpler or more cost-effective to work with a specialist such as Novagraaf to help you coordinate and manage enforcement actions. Novagraaf offers a range of anti-counterfeiting services, from online trademark monitoring to investigation, trap purchases, trademark training, trademark recordals and legal representation in customs seizure proceedings.

How should I evaluate my anti-counterfeiting strategy to measure its success? As with any business strategy, the basic criteria against which to measure success should be set up before you begin to target and implement your anti-counterfeiting activity. This will enable you to objectively assess the results of any actions taken against counterfeiters. It is essential to keep results under regular review and to revise tactics and strategy on an on-going basis. In particular, you should look to assess and re-assess the commercial damage caused by counterfeiting and to ensure that actions taken are appropriate and proportional. (Read more)

What are the benefits of a criminal action? As well as being actionable in the UK under civil law, the infringement of trademark rights through counterfeiting can constitute a criminal offence. Both Trading Standards and the police have the power (and duty) to enforce the criminal provisions of the UK’s Trade Marks Act; although, in practice, the majority of criminal prosecutions are brought by Trading Standards. Criminal proceedings offer a number of advantages to the trademark owner. For a start, they are generally much quicker than civil actions, and are often completed in around nine months. (Read more)

Trademark watching is an important tool in the proactive monitoring of registered marks and devices, helping companies to identify and act against infringement and misuse of trademarks in a timely manner. Here are five tips for getting started or revising your current strategy.

1. Get the rights in place Your trademarks serve as a badge of origin for your business and its brands and products, and are valuable business assets. A valid trademark right will enable you to prevent others from copying or otherwise taking advantage of the goodwill in your brand or company name. Consider registering as a trademark any word, sign, symbol or graphic that you apply to your company, goods or services to distinguish them from those of your competitors; for example, a brand, product or company name, or logo. Rights are territorial, so you may need to extend registration to cover all the countries and regions in which you trade, manufacture or transport your products. (Find out more about trademark registration.)

2. Prioritise between core and non-core If your company owns a sizeable trademark portfolio and trades globally, it may not be possible or cost-effective to watch every trademark in every jurisdiction. Where that’s the case, you should seek to prioritise your efforts by identifying and focusing on core brands and core jurisdictions that warrant complete protection. Secondary or ‘nice-to-have’ marks may warrant lesser attention (budgetary or otherwise); although bear in mind that some of those brands may also become core in future.

3. Develop a watching strategy Whether managed in-house or outsourced to a specialist, a brand owner’s trademark watching strategy should ideally cover all relevant trademark registers to identify applications for identical and similar trademarks. This will typically take one of three forms:

• Identical trademark watch: Identifies marks or devices (e.g. logos) that are visually or phonetically identical;
• Similar trademark watch: Identifies identical and confusingly similar marks;
• Trademark watch with opinion: Includes an attorney’s recommendation on the results of the identical or similar trademark watch based on their consideration of prior rights and the likely impact on a business and its market share.

4. Monitor your rights online Consider extending your trademark watching strategy to cover the web, including social media platforms. Online monitoring services trawl the web, including online message boards and auction sites, to identify instances of infringement, counterfeit activity and other possible threats to a brand or reputation for specified trademarks and keywords. Again, such services need to be designed with a company’s core trademark rights in mind.

5. Create a response plan To be effective, a trademark watching programme needs to be accompanied by an action plan for responding to infringement once it has been identified. This is particularly the case where a third party is seeking to register a potentially conflicting trademark, as brand owners with prior rights need to adhere to strict deadlines for submitting objections (or oppositions) to challenge such registrations. Early detection is also important when it comes to identifying and monitoring markets or brands at risk (for example, of counterfeit activity) and for building up evidence of misuse to be used when acting against such infringements.

Helene Whelbourn is a trademark attorney at Novagraaf UK.

We are 4 days into the true 12 days of Christmas, and I thought I would share the 12 days of Christmas- according to Elf and Safety

On the First day of Christmas (Christmas Day) my true love sent to me a Partridge in a Pear Tree….. This for me is all about Work at Height; the biggest cause of fatalities in the workplace; key control here is plan what you are doing – be stable and secure. Use the correct equipment, maintain stability and think about falling objects!

On the Second day of Christmas my true love sent to me Two Turtle Doves and a Partridge in a Pear Tree. The 2 key pieces of documentation you need in place are a Safety Policy and a Risk Assessment – the Safety Policy details your commitment, outlines responsibilities and gives specifics on key Hazard Areas; this enables you to have sensible Risk Assessments that reduce the Risk so far as is reasonably practicable.

Both documents need to be communicated to all affected by them; it is not a case of having some shiny folders in an office; but some living documents, that positively add to an effective Safety Culture.

You are getting the gist now-On the Third day of Christmas my true love sent to me Three French Hens Two Turtle Doves and a Partridge in a Pear Tree. There are 3 Enforcement Bodies; the Health and Safety Executive, the Local Authority Environmental Health and the Fire Officer – each has broad ranging powers to protect us all, and to ensure compliance in businesses which we all use.

The best way of not having an Enforcement Officer visit is to comply! The HSE introduced the Fee for Intervention scheme is 2012; you pay if a material breach is found- avoid this but have a great Safety Management System in place

4th day- Four Calling Birds- there are 4 elements to a Manual Handling assessment; Task, Individual, Load and Environment – Manual handling injuries/ harm still causes huge numbers of days off work, especially as we have now become more sedentary at work! Key aspect of a Manual Handling Assessment is to reduce the risk of injury, are we all guilty of poor techniques?

Five Gold Rings- there are 5 steps to Risk Assessment – identify the hazards, decide who is going to be harmed, look and what controls you have in place and decide/ evaluate whether you need to do anything else, record & review; key thoughts- focus on those tasks which are likely to cause more harm, or more frequent harm. Use someone competent to do the assessments so that control measures are suitable and sufficient!

Six Geese-a-Laying- The HSE recommends looking at six key hazard areas when approaching Stress at Work; The Risk Assessment should look at Demands, Role, Responsibility, Control, Support, Relationships and Change Stress is the biggest cause of work related ill health and there are 11.3 million days lost each year – Christmas can be a particular stressful time for some so do be mindful of this when at work

Seven Swans-a-Swimming; there are 7 main ways equipment can harm you – Entanglement, Ejection, Contact, Impact, Crushing, Electrical fault and lack of Stability. Equipment needs to be fit for purpose, maintained and serviced and used by competent persons

Eight Maids-a-Milking- There is lots of free help on the HSE’s website – including the Approved Codes of Practice – each has a Number L8 relates to Legionella; a specialised Risk Assessment Think Hot & Cold Water systems, showers as well as massive cooling towers

Nine Ladies Dancing- there are 9 points on the Hierarchy of Control; Elimination, Substitution, Isolation or Enclosure, Ventilation (Local then General) Good Housekeeping, Limiting Exposure, Good Welfare & Personal Hygiene, Information & Training & lastly Personal Protective Equipment

Ten Lords-a-Leaping – 10 days is the timescale for have to report over 7 day Injuries to the HSE under RIDDOR – reporting is now online apart from fatalities, Slips and Trips account for 63% of injuries Slips and Trips- look at floor, usage, risk of contamination, footwear, lighting, changes in level

Eleven Pipers Piping- there is a HSE Briefing note No 11 on Human Factors on Organisational Change; not exciting you may think; but the fact is our & our staff’s behaviour has a huge impact on Health and Safety; you need the 3 elements of Premises, Policies & procedures plus PEOPLE to ensure a great Health and Safety Culture (How you do things)

Twelve Drummers Drumming- this finishes with review; if there has not been a significant change your Health and Safety Management System should be reviewed every year (12 Months) Taking the Noise lead here- 12 Decibels is a quadrupling in noise levels – and would need actioning – to reduce the risk to the lowest practicable level

I hope you have enjoyed this seasonal look at Health and Safety

Earlier this week our bank Nat West phoned us to say a payment had arrived for £58,400 which we knew nothing about and they we concerned it could be a scam.

A few days before the call from the bank a company called ARIX GENERAL TRADING Co. had contacted us to purchase some software for £1,500. We supplied them with a Pro Forma Invoice for this amount and gave them details of our bank account as we wanted payment before we delivered the order.

Not long after the call from the bank Mr Bruno Alves of Arix General Trading Co.emailed us and told us there as a mistake with the payment plus he followed it up with a phone call. The email address was [email protected], I don’t like email addresses of companies from gmail or Yahoo as I am always suspicious.

I understand from the bank the nature of the scam is for Arix General Trading to greatly overpay for something they order. They then ask for the balance of the funds to be transferred back to them by a bank transfer. In the mean time they cancel the cheque and you are left with a massive loss, in our case it would have been £56,900.

We also understand they target this time of year as staff could have gone out on a Christmas Party and will not be so alert to spot this.

Really glad we bank with company which is alert to scams.

I have lost count of the number of times I have been asked this question over the last 18 years or so. A top placing in Google is seen as essential for many business websites, and with good reason. There is a lot of data from research which suggests that the top 3 positions on a Google search results page account for between 60% and 80% of the clicks, with the top position taking anywhere between 25% and 35% of the clicks, up to 3 times as many clicks as position 2. And what about the difference between Pay-Per-Click (PPC) paid adverts and the organic listings? How does that affect the number of clicks that can be expected? The simple answer is: it depends.

My own view is that the statistics don’t really matter that much. The crucial elements for a website owner or marketer are relevance to searches made and the intent behind them. When a search engine user is performing a search, the most important factor to them is finding the closest result to the intent behind their search. The closest results may be in the organic listings, the paid adverts, both or none. In which case they may try to modify their search.

So back to the question of how to get a top placing in Google. A website marketer has two main options: natural organic listings or PPC paid adverts. The reality is that it takes a great deal of effort to get both working effectively and to keep them working. Ideally both strategies will be used. Running a PPC campaign will not influence the natural organic ranking of a website but having both working well increases the chance of a click and reduces a spot for a potential competitor at the same time.

What decides the position of a PPC advert, or a natural listing, is highly complex and really only known to Google. A PPC advert’s position is decided in an auction and relevance to the keyword that triggered the display of the advert is a key factor that decides its position.

A guaranteed number 1 position cannot be given by anybody and any search marketer who tells you they can guarantee this is not being realistic. Even with PPC, a number one position cannot be guaranteed, but you do have a good chance of controlling a top position with a properly structured PPC campaign.

Top organic listings are achieved through a well-structured website that has clean and properly marked up website code, and that offers authentic quality content aimed at the web visitor, not a search engine!

And it has never been any different. People think they can cheat the search engines somehow by inserting keywords with sufficient frequency, or having lots of links to their website. It’s all rubbish. Instead of trying to cheat the system, work with a system that rewards websites which focus on the quality of user experience for their customer.