It is probably reasonable to assume that, for most new businesses, trademark protection is not high up the ‘to do’ list.

Not so for restaurateur Kit Chapman. In an industry in which reputation is everything, protecting the good name of his south westbased brassiere chain was of utmost importance from day one.

“I opened the first restaurant in Taunton in 1998 and, after struggling to find a name, we settled on ‘Brazz’ as an anglicised version of the word brasserie and put together a distinctive logo to go with it. Once established, there’s value in both the name and logo in terms of establishing our reputation – so it was important to look after that,” he says.

Using specialist law firm Withers & Rogers, Chapman registered his trademarks in the EU and the UK as well as other English speaking markets. Not a cheap process but, as it turned out, had Chapman not done so, it could have been a lot more costly.

After rolling out his chain to a further three venues and establishing a reputation of “high quality food with great hospitality” Chapman was staggered to discover a restaurant in Torquay – called Banx – had used a design incorporating a capital B nearly identical to Brazz’s own sign and, it seemed to him, trying to exploit his company’s corporate image.

“I went for them,” he says. “They argued their case but I wasn’t going to back down and threatened to take them all the way to court. At the eleventh hour they pulled out. I guess they realised they were on a hiding to nothing, and just how much it would cost them if it went any further. As it was they had to pay our legal fees and change their logo to something we were happy with.”

However the infringements didn’t end there. A hotel in Cheshire opened a brassiere named ‘Brazz’ and a restaurant in Dorset used a very similar logo. But now Chapman’s legal team had a successful track record, so both culprits caved in pretty quickly when threatened. The latest victory was over a restaurant in Hampshire which again was using another comparable design.

And Chapman’s determination to protect what’s rightfully his stretches right across the globe. Two rival restaurateurs from Exeter have emigrated to New Zealand and opened up a ‘Brazz’ of their own: fortunately Chapman’s trademark rights extend there as well. “There’s a sword of Damocles over them,” he explains. “We’re not going to pursue it, they’re on notice, so if they want to sell up they’ll have to explain the threat of litigation hanging over the business.”

Some business owners might wonder whether they’ve got the energy to continually be defending their brand, but Chapman is in no doubt the fight is worth it. “How can you not want to protect your intellectual property or defend what’s rightfully yours? Unfortunately people will abuse your good name and devalue what you’re trying to achieve and you’ve got to stop them. I’ve never for one minute felt it wasn’t worth it.”