Friday 12 March 2010

What to do when someone starts using your trademark.

Abode Srl. We have now been trading for 3 years but collectively we have over 30 years of experience in the property business of which 20 years of this has been in Italian property. Since the beginning of 2010 we have been targeted by one of our competitors. I set up a property company dealing in luxury interior designed property in Notting Hill, London almost twenty years ago. The central London real estate (estate agents) business must be one of the most cut throat and ruthless business environments in the world. It took 7 years to establish the company but when I sold Domus Nova in the early part of 2004 it had become one of the market leaders in the area. Although there must have been and probably still are over 20 professional companies all competing for the same instructions in Notting Hill their was always a code of conduct between the agencies. This unwritten law was king and gave the business, which doesn't have the best reputation, a modus operandi. It was then to my great surprise to find that although there exist the necessary authorised bodies like FIAIP in Italy there seems to be absolutely no and I repeat NO ethical understanding and respect between real estate agents. No, that is not entirely true. Unfortunately there is always one. If I am not mistaken Italy is part of the European community. That means as Europeans we have the right to move and work within Europe. I realise that this can be hard for some people to understand but the perfect example are Polish builders who arrived in London ten years ago and immediately became the builders of choice.

This brings me back to what to do if you are targeted by your competitors. Well firstly nothing. Obviously they are spending their time getting upset and therefore I would recommend that you leave them to get on with it. If on the other hand, like what is happening to us your competitor starts using your registered trade mark and placing it all over their own website and there related websites I would seek legal advice.

If you have a similar story we would love to hear from you.

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