BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
UPDATE: Cyclescheme has just informed BikeBiz that following discussion with Barclays, as of January 1st 2012 all Cyclescheme BAC payments to IBDs will be paid the next day, rather than the current three days as standard.
After a four-year effort cycle to work provider Cyclescheme has trademarked the word ‘Cyclescheme’.
Not only that, but the company has also trademarked its traffic light logo depicting a no-through road for cars, an amber light showing a bicycle and a green light giving a workplace outline.
Attempts to trademark the name were met with disappointment earlier in the company’s lifetime. The Trade Mark Ofice refused to allow two commonly used words joined together as a trademark. In order to achieve trademark standards the company had to prove that when anyone mentioned cyclescheme they were talking generically.
"Trademarking our company name is a revelation as, contrary to popular myth, it indicates that the EU Trade Mark office considers that the word Cyclescheme to be generic describing any cycle to work scheme and not simply our company," explained head of commercial operations Daniel Gillborn.
Reddie and Grose of London helped Cyclescheme through the qualification procedures.
What does the trademarking mean for Cyclescheme? Gillborn explained: "The commercial advantage of registering a trademark is far-reaching. For instance, any competitors using our company name to promote their ranking using web-based search engines will now have to desist."
Founding director, Richard Grigsby added: "When I thought of calling our company Cyclescheme, it was done purely and simply to indicate what we do in the simplest terms. Over the years we have been very aware that all UK schemes are described using our company name and this has allowed us to trademark our invention."
Cyclescheme is probably the UK’s best known provider for the cycle to work scheme, with contracts over 1,800-plus independent bike shops. It works with over 20,000 employers, including ASDA, Sainsburys, BBC, Sellafield Ltd., Airbus, Barclay’s Bank plc., IBM, Rolls-Royce Group, Microsoft, Google, Apple, Glaxosmithkline, Nokia, Ernst & Young, Siemens, Deloitte, Office of Fair Trading, the Department for Transport and the Ministry of Justice.
