Beyond the Logo: What you need to know about Legal Side of Brand Naming
What’s in a Name? The Difference Between Brand Naming (or Product Naming), Trademarks and Brand Identity design in Life Sciences and Biotech
When innovating in the life sciences or biotech space, naming your company or product can feel like a milestone. It’s the moment when your hard work begins to take shape in the real world. It becomes something people can remember, talk about, and share. But while naming can be one of the most exciting creative steps in your brand journey, it’s also one of the riskiest—if not handled with legal rigour.
Brand Name or Brand Identity?
At Arttia Creative, we help ambitious biotech and life sciences companies build a brand and a brand following. Our expertise lies in visual identity, corporate identity design, brand systems, product families and logo designs.
When it comes to brand and product naming, the focus doesn’t start with our brand creativity; it requires an understanding of the legal landscape around brand naming.
Let’s unpack the crucial difference between creating a brand name or logo and choosing a brand name and securing it with a trademark—and why the legal side matters if you want to build a brand that’s as defensible as it is distinctive.
Please note: Arttia Creative is a specialist brand and digital agency for life sciences, biotech, and healthcare. While we have extensive experience supporting clients through branding and corporate identity projects, we are not a legal firm and do not provide legal advice and trade mark guideance. We strongly recommend working with a qualified intellectual property attorney or legal professional to carry out trademark searches and registrations and advise on regulatory compliance, such as Definition IP. This also applies to patents for life science products.
Brand Name Creation: The start of a brand identity
Creating a brand name is where strategy and storytelling begin to take shape. It’s not just about finding something catchy or clever. It’s about capturing the essence of your innovation—your science, your solution, your values—and articulating it in a way that resonates with your audience.
For life science companies, this process often means balancing the technical with the accessible. Your name must make sense to investors, regulators, researchers, and sometimes even patients. And ideally, it needs to work globally.
But before you fall in love with a name—or print it on anything—it’s essential to pause and consider what comes next.
Trademarking: Making it official
A brand name without trademark protection is like a lab computer without backup. Vulnerable. A trademark gives your brand name legal protection. It makes it yours—and yours alone.
If someone else in your sector already uses a similar name, you could face legal challenges. At best, this could mean a costly rebrand. At worst, you could be hit with a cease-and-desist order or even financial penalties.
That’s why every naming project should be accompanied by a trademark strategy, especially in regulated sectors like healthcare, biotech, and pharmaceuticals, where precision and compliance are crucial.
You will most likely need to commission a specialist brand trademark or IP legal trademark company, such as Definition IP.
Considerations when naming your Life Science products and services
Several additional layers of consideration are involved in naming and branding a life science product, service, or product range, particularly when intellectual property, scientific rigour, and regulatory compliance intersect.
Your product name must resonate with your audience and align with your broader brand. It must also be distinct, non-misleading, and legally available.
That means checking for trademark conflicts in all intended markets, considering the patent landscape (especially for therapeutics, diagnostics, or devices), and ensuring the name won’t imply unproven claims that could trigger regulatory concerns.
Consistency is key for product ranges—each name should be unique yet part of a clearly defined and extendable naming architecture.
It’s a balancing act between creativity, clarity, and compliance—one that benefits from close collaboration between brand strategists, legal professionals, and regulatory experts.
Considerations when naming your Life Science brand
We’ve worked with countless biotech and healthcare innovators, so we understand the nuances that come with brand design and identity creation; however, there are a range of regulatory requirements that you also need to consider.
Here are a few of the checkpoints you need to factor into your naming journey:
#1. Trademark Availability and Clearance
Before you commit to a name, you need to ensure it’s not already protected by someone else. This goes beyond a quick Google search.
What you need to consider:
- Conduct a comprehensive trademark search (UKIPO, EUIPO, USPTO).
- Check for phonetic, visual, and conceptual similarities.
- Engage an IP company or attorney for a professional clearance search.
#2. Trademark Registration
Once you’ve found a unique name, you may consider registering it to protect your IP. This gives you the legal right to use it and prevent others from copying it—or something confusingly close.
What you need to consider:
- File for trademark registration in all your key markets.
- Choose the right trademark class (Nice Classification).
- Consider registering both the word mark and the logo.
#3. Domain Name Availability
Your online presence matters just as much as your offline one. If someone else owns the domain name you want, or something too close to it, you could face both legal and reputational challenges.
What you need to consider:
- Secure domain names early—including .com, .co.uk, and sector-specific ones like .bio.
- Be aware of similar-sounding domains that might dilute your brand.
- Be careful of the characters used in the domain name - lower case 'L' or upper case 'i' can often lead to confusion.
#4. Company Name Registration
Registering a company name (e.g., with Companies House) isn’t the same as securing a trademark. But conflicting company names can still create confusion—and legal headaches.
What you need to consider:
- Search your jurisdiction’s company register.
- Ensure no identical or similar names exist in your space
#5. Regulatory Compliance in Naming
This is especially important for pharmaceutical, diagnostic, and medical device companies. Names that imply unproven claims or regulatory approval can be flagged by agencies like the MHRA, EMA, or FDA.
What you need to consider:
- Avoid names that suggest guaranteed efficacy or safety.
- Work with regulatory consultants during product naming stages.
#6. Cultural and Linguistic Considerations
What sounds powerful in English might have unfortunate or offensive meanings elsewhere. If you're planning to scale internationally, you’ll need to ensure your name travels well.
What you need to consider:
- Conduct linguistic and cultural checks in all target markets.
- Avoid double meanings, negative connotations, or culturally insensitive terms.
The Role of Design: What about your logos?
Brand names and logos are often created together—but they’re two distinct assets. A brand logo (or brandmark) is your visual identifier. It needs to be equally unique, protected, and trademarked—especially if it contains stylised typography or graphic elements that differentiate your brand.
Arttia Creative, your professional healthcare creative agency, will help you ensure that your visual assets are compelling and yours to use and own.
Life Sciences and Biotech Brand Identity
While the brand name and trademark lay your business's legal and linguistic foundations, your visual identity brings it all to life. It's how your audiences will recognise, connect with and remember you.
In the world of life sciences, biotech, and healthcare, where innovation can sometimes feel intangible, your brand identity provides something tangible—something people can see, engage with, and trust.
At Arttia Creative, we specialise in creating all aspects of brand identities tailored to the life science and healthcare sectors. From early-stage biotechs to established healthcare innovators, we help our clients shape identities as confident, credible, and cutting-edge as the science behind them.
Defining a Brand Identity
Your brand identity is the complete visual expression of your brand. It includes everything from your logo and colour palette to typography, imagery, iconography, and brand guidelines. When executed well, your brand identity delivers clarity and consistency.
Arttia Creative support ambitious health and science organisations with:
- Defining your brand story
- Defining your brand personality
- Defining your brand's tone of voice
- Corporate identity systems that scale with your growth
- Visual identity design that aligns with your positioning and values
- Logo design that’s distinctive, memorable, and ready for trademark protection
- Presentation and pitch deck templates to impress investors and partners
- On-brand website design that supports your digital footprint from day one
- Brand guidelines that keep your internal and external communications aligned
Sector-Specific Identity Design
Our deep understanding of the regulatory, cultural, and scientific nuances in this space sets us apart. We know what works visually in a medical, clinical or research-led environment. And we know how to add the creative clarity that makes your innovation accessible and engaging for the right audience—whether that’s a venture capital investor, a trial participant, or a global partner.
We’ve delivered high-performing identities for:
- Biotech startups looking to attract early-stage funding
- Medical device innovators entering new markets
- Life science organisations preparing for scale or acquisition
- Private healthcare providers building patient trust and visibility
- Academic research groups seeking to showcase their work to stakeholders
- Consumer health companies who need public-facing product brands and associated packaging and print design
Our Design Approach
At Arttia Creative, we take a strategic, collaborative, and creative approach to brand identity design. We’ll guide you through every step of your visual identity and brand development; we can create your website, digital campaigns, and marketing materials.
- We listen closely to your vision and values
- We research your audience, competitors and market position
- We craft unique, sector-appropriate creative concepts
- We apply meticulous attention to detail—because in science, every element counts
- We ensure your identity is adaptable across digital, print, and events
And we won’t leave you once the design is done. We provide ongoing support to help your brand grow and evolve sustainably, professionally, and confidently.
The Takeaway.
In the health and life sciences sectors, your brand identity is more than just design—it’s a signal of your professionalism, credibility, and ambition. It’s what gives your audience the confidence to believe in your innovation.
Whether you’re just starting out or preparing for a major launch, we’re here to help you shape an identity that reflects the excellence of your science—and makes your message impossible to ignore.
Belinda White | Creative Director