Just three months after opening its doors, a Midlands-based business is being forced to change its name - following objections from two global brands.

Despite following all the appropriate legal channels when selecting their new name, Sarah Fullaway, Lee Mortimer and Matt Simpson, directors of Avisa Financial Services, have now been instructed by Aviva and Visa to change their trading name in order to avoid legal action.

Knowing that their long term strategy was to expand their new brand nationwide, the trio sought advice from a trade mark specialist in London before starting their new venture.

They were advised not to use their first choice of trading name as it was not unique to them, but went back to the drawing board and came back with the name 'Avisa'. After carrying out the necessary research, they were informed that only one other company, based in Italy, was trading under this name, and this was not therefore, deemed to pose a problem.

Confident that they had fulfilled all their legal obligations, 'Avisa' set about branding their new business and applying their new corporate identity to all their new signage, branch interior, stationery and online marketing - at a cost of thousands of pounds.

Avisa opened its doors in May and has since enjoyed rapid growth as Derby's only financial advisors with a high street presence. However, just three months after its launch, the company was contacted in writing by household names Aviva and Visa instructing them to change their name within 30 days to avoid legal action.

The company immediately contacted their solicitor to seek advice on the appropriate course of action, but were told that he was on annual leave. Sarah Fullaway requested to speak to another solicitor in the team in order to air her concerns and was shocked to be told that on reviewing the case, he was confused as to why they had been advised to use the name 'Avisa' in the first place, given its similarity to other high profile brands.

Conscious that a legal battle to keep the name may take months, cost thousands of pounds and ultimately result in Visa and Aviva winning the case with their vast resources, 'Avisa' have now decided to modify their company name to 'Oviso'. 

The directors are now seeking advice from a professional negligence solicitor with a view to taking legal action against the original trade mark solicitors for misadvice.

Commenting on the matter, Sarah Fullaway said:

"You can imagine how shocked and concerned we all were when we received letters from Aviva and Visa, especially as we had gone to great lengths to ensure that we had followed the correct channels when choosing our new company name.

"We have spent thousands of pounds on the launch of the business and the development of a strategic PR and marketing campaign, so to find ourselves in this position is extremely frustrating and very worrying.

"The company has really boomed since it was launched and we hope that this matter can be resolved quickly and properly, so that we can re-brand and continue to grow as a business."

There is some good news for Sarah, Lee and Matt, however. Both Aviva and Visa have now given the green light to the name change and 'Avisa' will become 'Oviso' with immediate effect.