Prominent Estonian charity organisation Let There Be Light (Saagu Valgus) has registered its trademark with the help of Hedman Partners Attorneys-at-Law, the NGO’s goal is to expand its network of charity centres across Estonia to help young people in families facing financial difficulties.
The organisation’s manager Siiri Sisask said that there was another reason for registering the trademark. “There have been instances when our name has been used in appeal letters by people who have no connection to our work,” noted Sisask. Registering the trademark will help Let There Be Light to avoid potential damage to the successful charity organisation’s good reputation and have legal protection against any fraudulent activities taken on by others.
Let There Be Light has also taken another step to extend its network in Estonia by concluding the first franchise agreement in Järva-Jaani, granting the charity centre there the right to use the NGO’s name, logo, values and know-how. “Every day we see how many children are living in poor conditions in Estonia and we would like to help them all – unfortunately we are not able to reach everyone in Estonia on our own and this is where we need to rely on kind people across the country to contribute to our organisation and its causes,” said Sisask.
Toomas Seppel from Hedman Partners Attorneys-at-Law said that establishing the rules for a not-for-profit organisation’s franchise agreement was a very unique case, because unlike any commercial trademark agreement, this contract does not regulate any financial commitment. “There is no sense for an NGO to establish regional centres or new entities in every single county, but the franchise agreement opens up a new possibility to work with local communities. Therefore we had to define Let There Be Light’s intellectual property, know-how, values and also to establish a code of conduct that would form the basis for exercising the franchise agreement,” added Seppel.
NGO Let There Be Light was established as a charity organisation in 1998 by popular Estonian musician Siiri Sisask to tackle the problem of bad lighting in classrooms. Today the organisation operates a charity centre in Rapla that helps families living below subsistence level, with a special focus on the needs of the children growing in such homes.
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