I want to develop an accreditation and a ‘badge’ for organisations that meet certain standards in relation to light nutrition. Are there any legal considerations before my social enterprise does so?
It is entirely possible to set up an accreditation programme. Depending on the type of accreditation, health-focused accreditations might fall under the jurisdiction or supervision of certain UK regulatory organisations like the Care Quality Commission (CQC), General Medical Council (GMC), or Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). You should investigate the appropriate regulatory bodies and adhere to any stipulations about creating an accreditation that they may have.
Otherwise, it’s important to consider having detailed objective criteria for accreditation, annual reviews to ensure that standards are being met and to protect the intellectual property in any badge of accreditation that you may create by way of a trademark registration. It’s not a good idea to use templates or designs that are only licensed to you to use as this may cause problems down the line. Ideally design your own badge or hire a contractor to design one for you, ensuring that the copyright is duly assigned to you. There are IP assignment clauses in the freelance agreement template in the template library.
You may also want to charge an annual fee for the use of the badge and have certain conditions around the use of it including termination of the licence if the conditions aren’t fully complied with. You would cover this and more in a licence agreement with the accredited organisations. There is a licence agreement in my template library.
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