Trademark Registration

When considering UK trademark registration it is important to understand that the concept of trademark protection extends to the provision of services as well as goods and brand names.

A trademark is a sign or text capable of being represented graphically and which distinguishes goods or services of one undertaking from those of another undertaking. A trademark may consist of words, designs, logos or combinations of letters and/or numerals. It is also important to realise that some words or phrases would not be considered suitable for registration as trademarks, if they are entirely descriptive of goods or services.

If you are unsure that your proposed trademark is considered acceptable for registration, we can provide a preliminary report for a small fee of £50.00 plus vat to highlight any issues that may prevent your trademark from becoming registered. If we have advised you that your trademark is acceptable, you should now decide if you want to apply to register it.

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Why register? | How is a trademark registered? | What is included? | Money-back Guarantee | Submit your application

Why register a trademark?

In today’s competitive and global market place, protecting your business identity has become one of the most important steps you can take. Advances in IT and the Internet mean that more information is freely available and in the public domain. As a consequence it is now much easier for a competitor to take advantage of your hard-earned reputation. If you need to create a brand name or conduct expensive marketing campaigns and advertising, it is often wise to protect your identity with a UK registered trademark.

If you do not register a trademark it is easier for competitors to use a brand name or business logo similar to your own, meaning that they can reap the benefits of your hard work. However the problem is not only caused by those actively seeking to steal copyright. If you do not possess a trademark, infringement may occur innocently. Whilst you or your company has the natural right to copyright in law, legal action to prevent such an infringement - known as “passing off” - can be expensive and time consuming.

Passing off is the use of an unregistered mark such that the third party using the mark passes off, or represents, the goods or services as their own. You can take common-law action to prevent passing off, but there are a number of factors that you must consider before you can prove passing off. As the owner of an unregistered mark, you must be able to prove that:

1. you trade in the goods or services to which the particular mark applies;
2. the public associate your mark with the goods you produce or the services you provide;
3. you have a reputation in those goods or services and therefore goodwill is attached to the name;
4. there is a likelihood of deception;
5. you have suffered, or are likely to suffer, substantial damages to your goodwill as a result of the third party passing off your mark.

It can be very difficult and expensive to prove passing off, so it would be to your advantage to register your mark. If your mark is registered, the "passing off" would constitute infringement, for which you can take legal action.

How is my trademark registered?

When you register a trademark in the UK the process is completed through the UK Patent Office, giving the registrant far wider protection and making any infringement much easier to deal with.

There are two stages involved in the process – a formal trademark search and the full trademark application. The formal search will investigate further to ascertain if there are any existing identical or similar trademarks registered in the same or similar Class of goods/services or whether there is any reason why the trademark might be unacceptable under the terms of the Trademarks Act 1994 Section 3.

The application stage generally takes around six months to complete. Once a trademark application has been accepted by the Patent Office, it will be advertised in the Trademarks Journal, which is published every Friday on the Patent Office web site. The Journal advertisement will last for a period of three months, which allows any interested parties with justifiable cause to oppose the registration of a trademark. Opposition is the legal procedure, which allows anyone to try and stop the registration of a trademark. They may only do this by filing the appropriate documents with the Patent Office.

The most common reasons for someone wanting to oppose the registration of a trademark are:

1. They think the trademark is one which is not unique to the applicant and should be free for everyone in that line of trade to use; or
2. They own a brand name (which does not have to be a registered trademark) which is the same as, or similar to, the applicant's mark.

Trademark Registration - what is included?

The registration process includes the following:

1. Trademark search conducted with The Patent Office, which takes approximately 2 to 3 weeks.
2. Application to register a trademark with the Patent Office in one class. Additional classes are charged at £50.00 plus VAT per class. The application can take approximately 5 months if no objections are raised.
3. Forwarding of Trademark Certificate upon registration.
4. 10 year registration upon successful application.

We will ensure that you are kept informed of the status of your trademark application during the process.

Preliminary consultation, the trademark registration fee and our money-back guarantee

1. Our preliminary consultation fee is £50.00 plus vat with absolutely no obligation to proceed. Simply complete the form below and submit to our Trademarks Department*.
2. The price for a full trademark registration (trademark search and application and registration in one class of goods/services) is £600 plus VAT.
3. This fee only becomes due once you agree to proceed to the trademark search stage.
4. Once the trademark search stage has been completed we will contact you with the results.

* Submission of this form creates an order to provide the preliminary report for a fee of £50.00 plus vat. An invoice will be raised and sent by email. The completed preliminary report will be delivered upon receipt of full payment. Note: our standard terms and conditions apply.

Submit your Trademark Registration for our preliminary consultation with no obligation to proceed

Step 1 - Logo Upload (optional)

(1)	Contact name
(2)	Business name
(3)	Address
	Town
	County
	Postcode
	Country
(4)	Telephone
(5)	Email address
(6)	Website
(7)	Type of trademark to register		(a) Text Trademark
	- if (b), please go to (9)		(b) Logo / Image Trademark
(8)	Trademark to be registered (if text)
(9)	Classes - click here for more information Click and hold the control key on your keyboard (option key on an Apple Macintosh) to select multiple classes.		Class 1 Class 2 Class 3 Class 4 Class 5 Class 6 Class 7 Class 8 Class 9 Class 10 Class 11 Class 12 Class 13 Class 14 Class 15 Class 16 Class 17 Class 18 Class 19 Class 20 Class 21 Class 22 Class 23 Class 24 Class 25 Class 26 Class 27 Class 28 Class 29 Class 30 Class 31 Class 32 Class 33 Class 34 Class 35 Class 36 Class 37 Class 38 Class 39 Class 40 Class 41 Class 42 Class 43 Class 44 Class 45 Not Known
(10)	Presentation of text (specify if any particular type-face, italics, bold, capitalisation)
(11)	Colour(s) associated (if known, please specify CMYK, RGB or Hexadecimal values)
(12)	Trademark to be registered in the name of: (i.e. individual's name or business name)
(13)	Products or services with which the trademark will be associated Please complete in as much detail as possible, particularly if you have answered "Not Known" to question (9). When you apply to register a trademark, a list must be included of all goods and services which you want to use the mark for. The goods or services must be listed in the class or classes they fall in. The system is comprised of 45 Classes and groups together broadly similar goods or services into categories which assists the registry in carrying out efficient searches of the register. Whilst classification may be seen as an administrative tool its importance to applicants in relation to determining the boundaries of infringement rights cannot be stressed too highly. If the classification of the goods or services on an application is made incorrectly, the validity of any rights stemming from a subsequent registration might be called into question at a later date, which could result in a mark being the subject of proceedings to remove it from the register.
(14)	Additional information e.g. Have you been using the proposed trademark for any period of time? Are you aware of any potential objections?
(15)	I have read and understood the terms and conditions