"Education Otherwise" Trademark

EDUCATION OTHERWISE is the registered trademark of Education Otherwise Association Ltd.

“Education Otherwise” was registered with the Trade Marks Registry under No. 2172166 as of the 15th of July, 1998.

On 8th March 1999 Local Education Authorities were informed in writing of the registration and were asked to refrain from using the words to describe any part of their operations.

We are aware that the phrase “education otherwise than at school” appears in DfEE documents and we are not concerned about their use of this phrase to describe provision for children educated outside the school system.

Difficulty arises when information headed “Education Otherwise” is sent to families by LEAs, and when “Education Otherwise” is used as the name of an LEA department.

We have built up our reputation for over 20 years and have a right to the use of the name “Education Otherwise”. Use of the name by a Local Education Authority is an infringement of our trademark and constitutes misrepresentation. As far as we know, LEAs are not obliged by statute to use the name “Education Otherwise” to describe any part of their operations and their use of the term is confusing to the public.

Therefore, we are asking LEAs to refrain from using the term “Education Otherwise” to indicate any of their services. As stated above we are not asking them to stop using the phrase “education otherwise than at school” or EOTAS, which is used by many LEAs.

Non-compliance with these demands may result in legal action being taken.