Intellectual Property Consultancy
IP Consultancy = Brand Aid

Montana iP can provide your business with a wide range of value-added services to help you build, grow and manage you intellectual property portfolio and develop your brands.


Brand creation

If you are looking for a brand name for your new product or service, or looking to create a new corporate name or identity, finding the right name (and logo) can take up a lot of time and effort. When you finally land on the new name which is just right for your brand or business and have invested a substantial amount of money creating the brand launch campaign, you don’t then want to find out that someone else has already registered the name as a trade mark before you. Montana iP can help you manage the brand naming process by ensuring you never diverge too far from what is legally possible. And we’ll be ready to put the right protection in place when you have narrowed down your search. Far from stifling creativity, we’ll help you channel your search for a name in the right direction. Every step of the way.

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Here are some examples of how Montana iP can support your brand creation project:

Trade Mark availability searches

Montana iP can help you find the right name for your product, service or corporate identity and check that it is available for use and registration as a trade mark in the UK and any other country where you intend to do business. For best results:

   the earlier we are involved, the sooner we can knock out those names which are not
      legally available - before you become wedded to them.

   we can run quick identical searches to immediately identify those names which are
      not available for use and help you sift out the non-runners before you draw up your
      short list.

More detailed searches can take longer and will cost more to complete so are best left until you have narrowed down your list of possible names. But at least you will end up with a short list, and ultimately a final name, that you can confidently proceed to launch with.

Competitor profiling

Increasingly, part of the brand creation process nowadays involves an analysis of how competitors are positioning themselves in terms of the types of names that are being used in a particular product category. Such analysis attempts to identify whether there are any similarities in the types, or categories, of names being used which might give a new entry into the market the opportunity to differentiate itself and stand out from the crowd.

Through the use of trade mark searches and market analysis, Montana iP can produce a brand name profile for your market sector to give you an overview of what your competitors are either using as brand names, or names for which they have sought registration and for which they have current trade mark protection. Montana iP can then work with you or your brand agency to agree the form in which you would like to have the data presented and the extent you require an analysis of the data (eg sorting the data in line with a brand naming classification system used by your agency, or some other criteria).
 

Risk evaluation

Where a brand name is needed for launch in multiple markets, it is fairly rare that the use of name in at least one of the markets is not without some element of legal risk (eg due to similar names already being registered there). To address this, Montana iP can provide you with a comprehensive report and evaluation of the legal issues and risks associated with your short-list of names and advise on strategies for minimising such risk. For example:

   reviewing how you might launch the product or use your mark; or

   assessing whether the third party mark is in use and vulnerable to cancellation; or

   via an agreed approach to the third party, to secure some form of consent or
      co-existence arrangement with them.

Trade Mark filing programme

Once you have decided on your name, Montana iP can provide you with a trade mark filing and registration programme for your chosen name (and/or logo) in the countries where you wish to obtain protection. Montana iP will at all times advise on the most cost-effective solution for dealing with this. If you’re still at the stage where you have 2 or 3 possibles still in the running, Montana iP can advise how best to proceed with protection of all potential marks at the lowest cost (eg during the initial consumer testing stage).

Mind your language

If you are considering a launch of an international brand, when selecting your new name you cannot overlook the value of a language check to ensure that the word has no negative connotations in these other languages. Montana iP, through its external contacts with language consultants can co-ordinate these checks for you. 

Portfolio Mangagement

Montana iP can provide the following services to assist your business:-

   Ensuring that any IP licenses for your IP rights are properly recorded.

   Dealing with any asset transfers or assignments.

   Ensuring that proprietor details are properly maintained and recorded at the relevant Registries.

   Ensuring any assets are renewed at the right time.

   Advice on how to manage your own IP portfolio and building a strategy for building the portfolio
      going forward.

   Building IP management and approval processes into your marketing, product development and
      other relevant business processes.

   IP policy development.

Projects

Montana iP can provide a tailored service to deal with specific projects your business is dealing with, on a one-off basis - either to provide specific IP input or as a supplement to your existing IP team where additional resources are required.

Please contact us for a further discussion to evaluate and provide a quotation for your requirements in more detail.



Brand (e)valuation

It is becoming increasingly common these days to value your intellectual property assets for balance sheet purposes. Or you may be looking to acquire another business, or its assets, and are seeking advice on the value of such assets.

Montana iP can advise on the various methodologies available for valuing your IP portfolio or establishing a valuation of another’s IP rights.


IP Due Diligence

If your business is looking to purchase another company or brand, or investing in another business, you will need to know what IP assets your acquisition target has and the extent to which it has protected its assets, before you buy.

Montana iP can conduct an analysis of the rights you are acquiring, including the extent of current IP protection and verification of any data provided by the vendor business. Potential issues and problems will be identified and solutions for dealing with these can be reported to you together with an opinion on the effect these issues may have on your acquisition and what steps may be necessary post-acquisition to protect your new assets.

 

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