Infringing Ladder Association trademarks

Only Ladder Association members can advertise Ladder Association training

Want to advertise Ladder Association training to your customers but don’t want to become a Ladder Association member? The short answer is, you can’t.

In the context of training, only Ladder Association members can use the Ladder Association logo, or even just the words ‘Ladder Association’. If you aren’t a Ladder Association member, offering or even just advertising Ladder Association training will always infringe our Registered Collective Trademarks. This applies even if:

> You’ll be asking a Ladder Association Training Member to run the course

> You’ve got an agreement with a Ladder Association member to promote training on their behalf

> You consider it ‘free advertising’ for Ladder Association

> You’re trying to test demand before applying for membership

> You’re only using the words Ladder Association, not the logo

> You’ve seen other companies doing it

In other words, there are no exceptions. You must become a Ladder Association Training Member before you offer Ladder Association training to your customers, or potential customers. We hope you’ll decide that membership is worth the effort – we’d love to have you as part of the association. If you do go ahead and advertise our training without joining first, we’ll have no choice but to take legal action against you for damages.

Defending our trademarks

We proactively monitor the market and regularly receive reports from members and others who have seen a non-member offering Ladder Association training. We also investigate fully whenever a delegate contacts us in relation to training that they booked through a non-member organisation. We go to these lengths to protect our members, our reputation and our trademarks.

Why does the Ladder Association care who promotes Ladder Association training?

Defending our trademarks isn’t the most enjoyable part of our day, but it’s essential. There are several reasons for this:

1. To protect the integrity and reputation of our training scheme

The Ladder Association is the leading expert on the safe use of portable ladders and our training scheme for these products is the best in the industry. Thousands of delegates are trained each year through a select network of approved training centres, using accredited instructors. All Ladder Association training centres are audited annually to ensure they continue to meet the stringent standards we set and provide a comfortable, well-equipped environment for training. If non-members offer Ladder Association training, we have no control over the quality or consistency of the training they provide.

2. To prevent delegates being misled

When people search the internet for Ladder Association training and find courses advertised by non-members, it’s highly likely they’ll think they’re booking directly with an approved Ladder Association Training Member. They’ve got no reason to suspect that the company is actually selling training that they themselves are not accredited or qualified to provide. This often results in delegates contacting us looking for their training records. They’ve paid money for a course and are sometimes months later left with no evidence they have successfully completed the course. This is not fair and we don’t want it happening in our name.

3. To protect our trademarks

The Ladder Association brand has a reputation in the UK and internationally. Using our trademarks without due cause takes unfair advantage of, and can even be detrimental to, their distinctive character and repute. If you own a trademark, you must diligently protect it from infringement and other misuse, such as passing off. If you do not enforce your rights, your mark may weaken, lose its distinctiveness and ultimately, you may lose the right to use it or defend it.

4. To grow our membership for the good of the industry

One reason why Ladder Association training is so good is because it benefits from the collective industry-wide insights, experience and knowledge of our members. We need companies who offer Ladder Association training (and benefit from the work that has been done by others) to contribute financially – and ideally personally – to the development and maintenance of the scheme, so that it can continue to evolve and improve. Being a member of the Ladder Association is something to be proud of but it’s also a commitment. The ability to offer Ladder Association training is a privilege that must be reserved for our members.

The legal bit...

What are the Ladder Association's registered trademarks?

The Ladder Association has acquired goodwill and reputation in a number of trade names and marks including, among others, the name and collective trademark “The Ladder Association”.

In addition, the Ladder Association is a registered proprietor of various UK Trade Marks, including the words ‘The Ladder Association’ and our logo/device mark.

It’s also worth noting that our training course materials and courses themselves are protected by Copyright. This helps protect the hard work of everyone who has poured their time, knowledge and expertise into them over the years and prevents anyone creating sub-standard imitations.

When is a Ladder Association trademark infringed?

> When you use a trademark that is similar to the Ladder Association’s registered trademark(s)

> When you provide goods or services that are identical or similar to those services covered by the Ladder Association’s registered trademark(s), which causes a likelihood of confusion on the part of the public (including the likelihood of association between the two sets of marks) and/or

> When, in the course of trade, you use a trade a mark which is identical or similar to the Ladder Association’s registered marks, where those marks have a reputation in the United Kingdom and the use of the mark, being without due cause, takes unfair advantage of, or is detrimental to, the distinctive character or the repute of the trade mark.