Trade marks can be a powerful tool for protecting branding associated with VR/AR technology. Vicky Butterworth, an intellectual property lawyer of FBCC member Marks & Clerk tells more about the topic in her latest article featured on VR AR Pioneers:

Trade marks act as a badge of origin, identifying goods and services of one business from another.  In order to attract registered trade mark protection a ‘sign’ must, amongst other things, be capable of being represented clearly and precisely.

It is not essential to seek registered trade mark protection for your brand, but there are clear advantages in doing so rather than relying on unregistered trade mark rights in your brand. A registered trade mark is an asset which can be commercially exploited and can help to attract and persuade investors, is relatively easy to enforce against infringers compared to unregistered trade mark rights and
can act as a good deterrent against copycats and free-riders.

As technology has progressed, so has the sophistication and scope of trade mark protection. ‘Non-traditional’ types of trade mark now include sounds, motions, holograms, gestures and moving images. This opens up the possibility of finding creative ways to protect different VR/AR mechanics as registered trade marks.

A trade mark registration gives the owner exclusive use of the mark, so it is important to carefully consider how wide to cast your net with your trade mark ‘specification’. What about using third party branding in the VR/AR space? If considering using a third party brand in VR/AR technology, care must be taken. A sensible starting point would be to seek express clearance from the brand owner.
Last but not least, a strong brand identity will help set you apart from your competitors.  Suitable registered trade mark protection (which may cover more than one ‘sign’) will help support, nurture and protect your brand both now and in the future.

Read more of the initiative from VR AR Pioneers.

The Finnish-British Chamber of Commerce is pleased to introduce to you our new Corporate Member, UHY Hacker Young! UHY Hacker Young are a national firm of accountants and business advisers, ranked in the UK’s top 20. Their 100 partners and 540 professional staff operate from 22 locations across the UK.

Firms clients include private individuals, privately owned businesses, fully listed and AIM clients, FCA regulated, not-for profit organisations and more.  A large proportion of their clients have been with the firm from business start-up positions all the way through to them helping their clients achieve their public listings. UHY Hacker Yong has grown with and around their clients.

UHY Hacker Young’s key services include:

• corporate taxation
• private client taxation
• audit and business assurance
• corporate finance, including fundraising, due diligence and flotations
• business review and strategic planning
• management accounts, including outsourced cloud accounting services
• VAT advice, compliance services, health checks and help with HMRC investigations; and
• recovery and restructuring.

UHY Hacker Young is a founding member of UHY International, which is currently the 16th largest accountancy network globally. Since it was established, UHY International has grown to cover 325 business centres in more than 100 countries worldwide, bringing together the global expertise of independent member firms, who are all highly regarded, professional and reputable in their own local markets. Read more about the company and their services on their website.
For more information please contact Corporate Tax Director Nikhil Oza at n.oza@uhy-uk.com

In the field of Extended Reality, is there space for Patents?  Andrew Hartley and Christian Balcer of FBCC member Marks & Clerk answer this question in their latest article featured on VR AR Pioneers:

Patents are registered IP rights, which provide legal protection for inventions. Whether you use them for the active protection or promotion of your technology, to raise funding, or to plan your exit strategy, patents represent a commercial tool which compliment your business’ goals and targets.

There are thousands of different patent applications out there for XR technology, covering the ever-popular fields of medical devices, data processing and e-commerce, through to education and beyond. This makes specialist XR patent attorneys, those who are well versed in the intricacies of both the opportunities and pitfalls associated with the ever-evolving landscape of this sector, key.

As a pioneer in this field, if you have some concepts that you believe are key to your commercial success, discuss with a patent attorney before you live to regret it. The quicker you do this, the more likely it is that you will be able to secure the rights to your innovations and beat the competition to it.

Read more of the initiative from VR AR Pioneers.

(Jake Newport and Max Newport)

FBCC Member Finnmark Ltd are known in the industry for their uncompromising dedication to quality and authenticity when it comes to the sale of sauna equipment and bespoke installations. The growing company, which was founded in 2016, is based in County Durham’s Enterprise City.

Their aim is to educate people on how to use sauna properly, show people how to get the most from the experience and actively publicise the wide range of health benefits associated with frequent sauna use. In fact, they’ve just gone live with a new section in their stories called Sauna Health Benefits. You can read more by clicking here. 

Jake Newport (left in the photo) is the Managing Director of Finnmark Sauna. He recalls the early days and how a gap in the market made up his mind to set up the company. He said, “I was first inspired by Finnish sauna after working out in Finland as a sales agent for high-quality sauna brands such as Narvi. I then fell in love with the real experience but whilst trying to sell equipment into the UK trade market it became clear that my contacts weren’t overly interested in the highest of quality and durable equipment available. Quickly realising I couldn’t sell into trade, and with very little money to my name, I built a web shop and started retailing the equipment to the public.

When I was selling to trade I didn’t meet one company in the UK who’d been to Finland, were interested in finding out about the full experience, or built anything near to how they are built over there. Unfortunately, it means a lot of people’s experience of sauna in the UK is when they visit a health club. Many of those cheap, modular designs are not properly ventilated, they don’t have the right insulation or vapour sealing and they have a hidden heater with no stones.”

He added, “The Finns regularly go in for over forty minutes, have a cold plunge or shower and repeat the process over the course of several hours. The experience offers a number of health benefits, gives you a big endorphin high and aids sleep. I was confident there was a gap in the market and within the first month, we made our first big sale of £2000. At that point, I started implementing digital marketing tactics my competitors weren’t doing which secured lots of early sales and funded the initial growth of the business.”

In the early days, Finnmark sauna had a few difficulties with organising design work and, at around the same time, Jake’s brother Max recently graduated as a designer and was working in high-end hi-fi. Max took a look at the design material the company was paying for and mentioned he could do a much better job so he was brought into the business. The quality of his innovative design work proved to be a real springboard. It meant that in the three years of growing Finnmark as a bespoke installation company turnover tripled year on year and they very quickly became a £300,000 turnover business.

Early on, the company was fortunate enough to get good breaks doing some high-quality installations. The quality of the equipment, materials and design was exactly what clients wanted and they’ve now filled an order book until summer 2020. Finnmark has installed for TV personalities, producers, sportspeople and celebrities. Jake enthused, “After impressing such clients and the architects and interior designers working alongside us on the projects, there’s been an upward spiral effect because people really see that we care about the quality and longevity of what we do. Many of them have been to Finland, tried the real deal and that’s what they want  in their homes.”

The company has taken on more employees and is moving to larger premises in the county with that risk being mitigated a little by some help by the County Durham Growth Fund and a government-backed NEL loan.

Jake finished, “We’ve been fortunate enough to employ some really experienced people in their field and we’ve been able to do so by being progressive in the way we work. We offer flexi time, and a masseuse comes in on a Friday. If you want people at the top of their game you need to invest in them and show them the value of their worth. The North East has some of the best tradespeople in the world. There’s good availability of quality and reliable people and the area has a great heritage of manufacturing and workmanship. It’s also a very cost-effective place to have the business and the support from the people of Durham has been great. I try to give back at youth business events at the university and local schools where I see lots of potential and enthusiasm for business in the area.”

For more information, check out their website by clicking here!