© 2005 Les Mills International Limited Intellectual Property Protection
© 2007 Les Mills International Limited Country Specific Strategy Assessment of Trade Mark Status in each Country The assessment which has been prepared covers each agent’s country and also other countries in which they operate. It includes details of: - Current trade mark registrations - Pending trade mark applications - Gaps in registrations - A Proposed Strategy for addressing trade mark gaps
© 2007 Les Mills International Limited Country Specific Strategy We need you to: - Confirm that the details of trade mark registrations are correct - Assist LMI to fill the gaps in trade mark registration - Identify any other IP issues in your market e.g. copyright registration - Develop a wider strategy for IP protection based on the trade mark registrations
© 2007 Les Mills International Limited Country Specific Strategy Wider IP Strategy - Identify responsibility within the agency (e.g.marketing manager) - Ensure that contracts that control use of IP are in place - Education of clubs and instructors about their responsibilities - Monitoring of compliance (Ebay, YouTube, Clubs and Instructors) - Response to non-compliance - - informal response - - written response (standard letters) - - legal response (use an expert local legal adviser) - - oppositions to trade mark applications
© 2007 Les Mills International Limited Preventing Brand Becoming Generic Risk that a successful brand becomes generic and loses distinctiveness (e.g. Xerox, Sellotape, Spinning, Pilates) To address risk follow the Brand Guidelines: - Ensure that name is used in capitals with trade mark indication e.g. BODYPUMP™ - Do not abbreviate or separate into two words - Do not use generically Related issue of protecting the suffix e.g “pump” or “vive” and use “Les Mills” in conjunction with program names
© 2007 Les Mills International Limited Other Reminders Register program names not logos Register trade marks in the name of LMI Share your local legal advice with LMI, we can help you maximise the value you get from it Keep us in the loop in developments in your market Seek LMI’s approval before allowing use of brands on merchandising