The latest news is that UKTV Play is changing its name to “U”. UKTV Play broadcasts several free to view channels such as Yesterday which I watch occasionally. But the change of name is surely as daft as Elon Musk renaming Twitter as “X”.
A single character name is a very poor trade mark – unregistrable and hence unprotectable in the UK I believe. It’s also unprotectable from rip-off imitations such as “UTEEV” unless “passing-off” was alleged which gets you into more complex trade mark law and big legal bills.
One of the first principles when selecting a trade mark is that it should be both unique and memorable. What is memorable about “U” or “X”, when everyone knew what Twitter was and could locate it easily?
The owners of UKTV Play should surely have employed some branding consultants before deciding to change name.
Roger Lawson (Twitter: https://twitter.com/RogerWLawson )
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