Business Idea - legal advice

Flyonthewall

Hi.

I have a business idea but it's based on something that's copyrighted. I don't want to give anything away about my idea, just in case it is possible. Problem is, how do I find out if my idea would work or whether I'm breaking copyright laws? If my original idea isn't possible I'd like to know if there are any legal ways of making it work as there are other options as well.

Is there any way of finding out?

Thanks.

spacey2012

More likely to be trademark.
If your business uses a trademark you do not own in any way shape or for to increase your business, turnover or implies it has any connection with the trade mark or company trademarking they are entitled to make an estimated loss damage claim.
If you have used copyrighted logo's and artwork, this would be a separate claim.
They can claim all legal costs associated and a barrister normally charges around £1700- £3500 per hour.

I would re-think the idea.

Flyonthewall

spacey2012 wrote: »

More likely to be trademark.
If your business uses a trademark you do not own in any way shape or for to increase your business, turnover or implies it has any connection with the trade mark or company trademarking they are entitled to make an estimated loss damage claim.
If you have used copyrighted logo's and artwork, this would be a separate claim.
They can claim all legal costs associated and a barrister normally charges around £1700- £3500 per hour.

I would re-think the idea.

It's trademarks and copyright. but it's nothing like that. I have no intention of using logos or artwork or anything.

It's something that a lot of companies create and I plan on using their products. It's hard to explain without giving away an important part of the idea lol.

A google search gives conflicting information, none of it legal and mostly based in the US. So I need some way of discussing the idea and seeing what legal options I have.

spacey2012

I did hear of one shop owner left with a £200k charge on his property after using just part of a companies name on his shop.
This area really need some paid for legal advice.
The implications of getting it wrong are huge.

Corporations spend millions every year protecting branding and trademarking from similarities or false representation.
Even with a legal idea, the costs involved of defending a claim will shut most down the same day .
They can and will sue even with little chance of success as they know they can tun your money out defending it.

Flyonthewall

I wouldn't be stealing or using anything from the companies like names or logos or whatever. Anyhow, I can't afford to be paying for legal advice so are there any free options to finding out? Any companies that help out with business plans and would be able to work through ideas?

paddyrg

Ask the company whose IP you're at risk of using?

Flyonthewall

paddyrg wrote: »

Ask the company whose IP you're at risk of using?

They're mostly massive companies, multiple companies are involved with each product (or at least, they are in many cases), none of which are easy to contact and I doubt they'd care to reply to some random individual asking whether they can use their products. It wouldn't be a straightforward question about just one of their products either.

tyllwyd

So you are have a business idea which involves possible trademark or copyright infringement over multiple multinational companies, and no money to pay for any legal advice? On the face of it, it sounds like a non-starter because if even one of those companies started legal proceedings you wouldn't have the money to defend them, and you'd be out of business.

Flyonthewall

tyllwyd wrote: »

So you are have a business idea which involves possible trademark or copyright infringement over multiple multinational companies, and no money to pay for any legal advice? On the face of it, it sounds like a non-starter because if even one of those companies started legal proceedings you wouldn't have the money to defend them, and you'd be out of business.

Yeah when you put it like that it sounds really bad and a very stupid idea lol. In reality it's nothing like that at all. If it were I wouldn't have ever considered it at all.

Using the products is perfectly fine, it's just when you add the business side to it that things maybe change. There are businesses that do use the products (all perfectly legal) and my idea is sort of along the same lines. There's a few different ways the business could work, I'm just not sure which, if any, work legally.

Mistral001

It sounds like the OP is using other companies' products in their own product or acting as a reseller.

It sounds like a business that is going nowhere as without full permission of the product manufacturer you will quickly hit a brick wall. On the other hand, maybe the OP is being a bit paranoid and there are not as many restrictions as they think there are.

Flyonthewall

Mistral001 wrote: »

It sounds like the OP is using other companies' products in their own product or acting as a reseller.

It sounds like a business that is going nowhere as without full permission of the product manufacturer you will quickly hit a brick wall. On the other hand, maybe the OP is being a bit paranoid and there are not as many restrictions as they think there are.

Well I'm not doing either.

There may or may not be restrictions but that's why I want to know for sure.