This subject comes up time and time again, is it legal to use the words "Reach & Wash" "Reach and Wash", Reach n Wash" etc etc and the reach and wash logo. Window cleaners like to use the term "reach & wash" and the logo because its usually recognised by building owners. Other times, window cleaners use it without even realising its a trademark.
Until relatively recently only the reach & wash logo (with the water man) was a registered trademark, this one here:
It is notoriously difficult to trademark descriptive phrases, and of course, "Reach and Wash" is a descriptive phrase.
The only time you can trademark a phrase like this is if it has essentially been established as a trademark purely through use in a trademark sense.
After having used the phrase "reach & wash" for over ten years, the Intellectually Property Office last year granted Ionic the right to register the phrase "reach & wash" as an international trademark.
A few months ago I was talking to a window cleaning supplier, and we got talking about this subject and he said "ah yes, so you can't use Reach & Wash, but what about 'reach n wash'? or 'reach-wash'?"
This is called "passing-off" (in that someone is trying to "pass-off" their product as something that it isnt). When it comes to trademarks, you cant use the actual text of someone else's trademark,
or even a similarity. If it came to it, you would have to justify in court that using the phrase "reach n wash" was not trying to piggy-back from the brand "reach and wash". You'd simply have no chance.
It would be a bit like launching a soft-drink and calling it "coke and cola" and then expecting Cocacola not to be too bothered about it. They would be bothered, and you'd just have no hope of defending that in court.
Interestingly, the supplier who I was speaking to didnt believe me and started to use the phrase "Reach + Wash" on their website. It wasn't long before Ionic contacted them and asked them to stop. When they refused, Ionic's lawyers began legal proceedings, and only then did the supplier stop using the trademark. But, that isnt the end of the story, because that supplier became liable for the legal costs that had been racked up so far, which was just over £1,000. If it had gone to court, there would have just been no defense, and they would have had to pay damages as well. (This was a supplier, so no doubt Ionic played hard-ball, I don't know what would have happened had it been a window cleaner)
Some window cleaners I have spoken to have said "ah well, whose gonna know if I use it or not? They gonna watch every window cleaner are they? Don't think so"
Enforcing a trademark is often difficult, but in this case Ionic have a helping hand - window cleaners who have bought reach and wash systems. They call ionic all the time and report that one of their competitors is using a trademark without having bought a system.
It never ceases to amaze me that there are plenty of people around who will openly slate ionic for this and that - fair enough, everyone's entitled to their opinion. But why, then, if ionic is so terrible are people falling over themselves, even illegally, to use its trademark? I remember a thread on here a while ago about a cheeky beggar who had copied the name and graphics from a forum member's van, and was using it to get work. Of course, all the forum members commented how bad this was etc, unfair, unprofessional and so on. That window cleaner was trying to get work on the basis of someone else's brand. Sorry, but I don't see much of a difference.
here it is :
http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=26144.0;allSo anyway, to clear up this debate, the phrase "Reach and Wash" is a registered trademark, and the water-man logo is a seperate trademark. see here:
http://www.ipo.gov.uk/tm/t-find/t-find-number?detailsrequested=C&trademark=E4682308You can't use it or anything that is similar unless you have a license from the trademark proprieter, which is Ionic. They license its use to window cleaners who buy their systems. If you do use one of those trademarks without permission, and I have seen plenty of examples, sooner or later you're likely to get a letter from Ionic probably quite politely, asking you to stop. My advice would be - STOP! Because otherwise you'll end up forking out for the legal costs involved in enforcement, and they can be steep.
But also, you could get trouble from another quarter - saying you use reach & wash when you dont is a violation of the Trade Descriptions Act, and there's nothing to stop ionic, another window cleaner, even a customer from reporting you for this. It can and has happened.
-Philip
