A  trademark is a way for one party to distinguish themselves from another. In the business world, a trademark provides a product or organisation with an identity which cannot be imitated by its competitors.A trademark can be a name, word, phrase, logo, symbol, design, image, sound, shape, signature or any combination of these elementsn

 

A UK trademark registration will give you with the exclusive right to use your name in the UK on the categories of products and services for which it is registered for a period of 10 years with the right to renew thereafter.

 

Only trademark registration will give this exclusive legal right. Company name registration and domain name registration, whilst important, do not confer any legal exclusivity to use the name or prevent others from using your name.With a trademark registration you will be able to prevent others from using your name quickly and cost-effectively.You will protect your business, its goodwill and reputation and enhance its value to potential buyers and investors.You can also protect your name throughout all of the Member States of the European Union as a Community Trade Mark with just one application.

 

Information required to file an application of UK trademark registration

 

1. Full name and address of applicant. 

2. Country and state, if appropriate, of incorporation of the applicant. 

3. TradeMark. 

4. A good representation of the logo or design. 

5. Indication of Goods and Services sold or to be sold under the Trade Mark (all goods/services placed in 45 classes). 

6. Details of application on which Convention Priority is to be claimed.

 

Procedure and time scale

 

Allow around eight months from the start of the process to the issue of a Registration Certificate. The following are the main steps in that procedure:

 

Step 1: You can conduct a search to determine if the mark is free to use and register (although this is optional). A basic text search can be done online for free. However, such text searches are very limited and cannot be relied upon to determine whether the mark is free to use and register. We recommend a full availability search as this will search both similar and identical trade marks. This is a service the Trade Marks & Designs Team at Pinsent Masons can perform.

 

Step 2: File your application with the UK Intellectual Property Office, either on paper or electronically. Within one week you should receive an official filing receipt. It is important to remember that all rights date back to the day the application was filed and not to when the application is granted.

 

Step 3: Unless you have requested an accelerated examination, at an additional cost of three hundred pounds, within four weeks of filing you should receive the official Examination Report.This may include the UK Intellectual Property Office's objections if your application is deemed unsuitable for registration. You can respond to these objections and they might be waived. The examination report incorporates an advisory search report relating to prior pending trade mark applications or registrations which the UKIPO feel are in conflict with your application. You can decide to ignore this search and push on with the application or you can counter the citations and argue they are unjustified. You have one chance to counter the citations. If you ignore the search results or are unsuccessful in overcoming the citations, but decide to push on with the application it will progress to advertisement. However, the owners of any UK or Madrid Protocol rights will automatically be informed of the advertisement of your application.

 

Step 4: Your application will be advertised in the Trade Marks Journal for opposition purposes. Your application will be open to opposition for two months, with the possibility of a one month extension to the opposition period. Assuming no objections are raised to the application, the application should be advertised be advertised within two months of the application being filed. If a formal opposition is filed, opposition procedures can last for two years or more. Many brand owners hire watching services that, like a search engine, will automatically search every published application for potential conflicts. The Trade Marks & Designs team manages a number of trade mark watches spread across the UK, European Union Countries and Worldwide and a detailed cost estimate of this service can be provided to you upon request.

 

Step 5: Assuming the opposition period is not extended by one month, if there have been no objections in a period of two months from the date when the advert first appeared, the application is granted and a Registration Certificate is issued. This is typically six months from the date of filing.

 

For further information or assistance, please feel free to contact us

 

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