Some time ago we applied to Trade Mark the Essential name and logo in both the UK and the EU. It is a fairly long, but not very torturous, road and we are now delighted to announce that both applications were successful and Essential is now registered under a UK and a European Community Trade Mark.
This simply protects us from anyone else using the Essential name and logo to promote their own services. For example, a company could not offer training or consultancy in Essential Architecture Manager, using the Essential name and logo, without our agreement and permission.
We felt that, although we are naturally proud of our open source credentials and actively want to encourage people to download, use and customise Essential, we also want to be able to protect our brand and ensure that quality of any training or consulting services from 3rd parties is kept at a high standard.
To this end, we will shortly be introducing our accreditation process. Having demonstrated that they have the ability to ensure the required quality when delivering services such as consulting and training, accredited individuals or organisations will be able to quote the Essential name and brand. We will be publishing a list of accredited organisations on our website very soon.