20 | MARKETING | LEGAL ADVICE Read a related story: click here
Prevention is beter than cure
When devising their marketing strategies, schools need to think carefully about the legal ramifications, advises Paula Williams
F
ew schools can be confident of maintaining high levels of interest from prospective
pupils and their parents without a good marketing and brand strategy. However, there are a number of legal, commercial and reputational traps and pitfalls that need to be avoided.
Trade mark protection The protection and maintenance of a school’s reputation is vital to its long- term success. Marketing efforts will be wasted if there are reports in the press, on the internet and via social media of another school with a confusingly similar name that is the subject of a scandal or educational failings. Although your school will build
up unregistered rights in its name and crest (or logo) through use, these unregistered trade mark rights are geographically limited in scope and are
notoriously complex and expensive to enforce under the law of passing off. As is so often the case, prevention is
beter than cure and the cost of pre- emptive trade mark registration is likely to be significantly lower than the legal costs and management time that can accrue in trying to protect your school’s reputation from damage when an unregistered trade mark is abused. School reputations can be damaged
by third parties in a variety of ways. Online abuse is becoming more common, through social media (e.g. fake Facebook profiles) or through the use of the school name in a domain name operated by an unconnected entity. Trade mark registration for the school
name and crest (or logo) provides an effective tool against such damaging use and will also deter would-be infringers. It will enable the school to stop third parties from using identical
or similar trade marks in connection with education or similar services. It makes commercial sense to protect
the assets and reputation of your school, but trustees of charitable schools have a legal duty to do so. As evidenced by the significant franchise fees paid in connection with international school projects, trade marks (such as the school name and crest or logo) can be valuable assets, but if they are not protected they are open to abuse by third parties. In the same way that buildings should not be left uninsured, so should the school’s public reputation be protected. As part of this duty, charity trustees are expected to take reasonable steps to protect the school’s trade marks and should consider registration carefully. If you are considering an overseas
franchising project, then trade mark protection is a vital step to take as soon as possible. Trade mark protection laws
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