What's the most important thing about choosing a brand or business name? It should be a catchy, relevant and memorable name of course. But more importantly, the name - or anything confusingly similar - should not already belong to someone else in the same area of trade as you, writes Jon Danzig

That will require extensive searches as ignorance will be no defence. Imagine setting up a new business name only to discover, after much effort and investment, that someone else has superior commercial rights to the name? At best you may have to change your name. At worst, you could have an expensive fight on your hands involving substantial damages...and changing your name.

Once you have found a name that's truly unique and available, the next most important thing you'll want to do is to protect it and stop anyone else using it. This is where many businesses and entrepreneurs misunderstand the law and often become undone.

Simply registering the name with Companies House should do the trick, shouldn't it? No, not at all. Having a name accepted at Companies House doesn't give you any special or superior rights in the name. Companies House do not check whether the name you're registering - or something comparable - is already being used by a similar business. They will only ensure that the exact spelling of the name isn't already a registered company name, but that in itself will not give you any protection in the name.

So, how about registering a domain name? Again, that will not provide any commercial protection in the name.

If you have been in business for a long time and have established a trading reputation, then you may be able to stop someone else using your business or brand name under ancient "passing off" laws. However, these laws arise out of common law rather than statutes of Parliament and are horrendously complicated. Many often find it easier to simply change their name rather than relying on passing off laws.

So, what's the answer? It's simple really. A registered trademark.

The owner of a registered trademark has statutory protection in their business name superior to any other method of protection. The protection is not only conferred on the exact spelling of your brand name, but on any other name that's confusingly similar to yours in the same classes of trade. That's huge power and it's surprising that more business owners don't apply to register their cherished names. What is the point of building up a brand name that's at risk of being lost if you don't properly protect it?

Registered trademarks are recognised in law by almost every country on the planet. In the UK that protection has been conferred under the Trade Marks Act of 1994, although the concept of trademarks goes back centuries, with the first "marking" law passed in 1266. Infringe a registered product trademark and it can be a criminal offence involving a possible jail sentence. However, it is up to the trademark owner to be vigilant and on constant guard that no other business - either knowingly or inadvertently - is using the same or a confusingly similar business name.

I have three registered trademarks, Look-Hear®, registered in many classes across many countries, People Power® registered in the UK and Zollypop® registered in multiple classes in the EU. I've had huge success in preventing these names from being used or misused by others in the same or similar trades, simply because these are registered marks protected under law. There are also domain names with the marks: www.look-hear.com, www.zollypop.com and www.peoplepower.tv etc.

Now my circumstances have changed and I'm looking for new homes for these marks. For the right business proposition, they could be a valuable catch. Registering a trademark isn't achieved simply or quickly. These are registered names available now "off-the-shelf". I am open to suggestions and propositions. Please write to me at jon@look-hear.com