I am a Tailor. How do I Protect my Intellectual Property? 

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Table of Contents

• Marketing and Branding
• Intellectual Property and Licensing
• Franchising Your Tailoring Business
• Key Takeaways

As a tailor, it is important to consider how intellectual property and trade marks relate to your business. You may focus your energy on helping your clients look their best, in their suit or wedding dress. But, it may surprise you how critical protecting your intellectual property and trade marks are to your business’ success.

Marketing and Branding

As a tailor, word of mouth marketing and brand recognition to consumers is very important. Consumers rely on this to know that they are going to a business where they will be given great service and that they can trust the tailor with their clothing. If you are setting up a tailoring business, you should pick a brand name early on in the process. This will make it easier to pick both a business name and register the most appropriate trade mark. You may also consider registering a trade mark for your logo, which will protect your brand by preventing other tailors using the name for the same goods and services as yours.

Intellectual Property and Licensing

As a tailoring business, you will likely be using a website to promote your services as well as particular types of work that you can do. You should ensure that you have the copyright to each photo on your website and that you assert your intellectual property rights appropriately. You can do this through your Website Terms of Use which states how visitors can use, and not copy, your images. You can also include the copyright symbol, your business name and year under each image.

Franchising Your Tailoring Business

You may also consider running your tailoring business as a franchisee. If you are considering doing this you should have a lawyer thoroughly review all of your franchise documentation. They can help you to understand the risks of signing up to a particular franchise, your rights and responsibilities and also whether the agreement is compliant with the Franchise Code of Conduct. As a part of any franchise agreement, there are usually detailed clauses around use of the franchisor’s branding, image and intellectual property. This agreement usually gives you the rights to use the image and name for your business. It will also likely set out your obligations around using images as well as provide you with information as to how you should market your business.

Key Takeaways

As a tailor, you should consider your intellectual property rights to protect your business’ brand and reputation. If you have questions about registering your business name or trade mark, we can help. 

Questions about protecting your tailoring business’ intellectual property or registering a trade mark? Maybe you need assistance drafting your Terms and Conditions setting out what you and your customers can do if the clothing is damaged or lost. Ask our intellectual property lawyers.