Trade Mark Registration Solicitors

Every business is looking for that competitive edge – something that differentiates their products and services from the crowd.

A trade mark, sometimes referred to as a ‘brand’, is an important tool that can give identity to and help customers recognise your products and services.

What is a trade mark?

A trade mark is something which identifies the goods or services of a particular trader to enable consumers to distinguish between competing goods and services.

Whilst a trade mark is most often words (in the form of a name or phrase) or an image, trade marks also cover distinctive sounds (such as the ‘intel inside’ jingle), shapes (the Coca-Cola bottle) or any combination of these elements.

Trade marks do not have to be registered, but if they are, they provide one of the strongest forms of protection for a brand.

Registration of a trade mark grants the owner exclusive use of such trade mark in the specific class(es) of goods or services which the mark is registered against. If anybody uses the trade mark without authorisation they can be prevented from continuing to use the mark regardless of whether the trade mark owner has suffered any loss or not, and if loss has been suffered they will be liable for such loss.

If you use a trade mark without registering it there is always the danger that your competitors could register the same or a similar mark which could cause you issues and force you to rebrand. It is also much more difficult to protect the goodwill in your brand with an unregistered trade mark as you have to rely on the common law offence of ‘passing off’ which places a much higher burden on you to prove that there is confusion in the eyes of consumers and that the other company is deriving benefit from your goodwill.

A registered trade mark is an asset of your business, and can be sold or licenced so that other people can use it in return for a fee.

Furthermore by having a registered trade mark, it allows the authorities to bring criminal charges against anyone using the mark in addition to your own civil remedies.

Registration lasts for 10 years, but can be renewed indefinitely provided that the trade mark is in use in the relevant class(es) of goods or services.

What if I already own the company name?

Registering a name at Companies House only protects you against another company being created with the same name; it doesn’t protect you against somebody using that name as a trading or product name.

What if I already own the domain name?

Just because you own the domain name, it does not give your trade mark any protection under the law; you will still need to register your trade mark if you want to protect your brand.

What if someone else is already using the same (or similar) mark?

Where a third party has been using the same or a similar mark prior to your registration, but they have not registered their mark themselves, they may have acquired prior rights to the mark. In such circumstances they can oppose the registration or subsequently seek to invalidate the registration. The difficulty facing owners of such unregistered prior rights is that they must prove that they have acquired goodwill in the mark and that there is a prospect of confusion and damage to such goodwill by the use of your mark. If they are successful in establishing this then they maybe permitted to continue to use the trade mark in the same manner as prior to registration but are not automatically permitted to expand usage in restricted classes.

Bringing any such action is difficult, and is another reason why it is always a good idea to register your trade marks as soon as possible so as to remove the need to evidence prior rights in the mark.

Why Napthens?

Online and cost effective
Our intellectual property (IP) team has specialist expertise in trade mark registration. Having worked with many businesses on the legal issues surrounding branding and trade marks, the team has used that commercial experience to produce a cost effective, efficient online process for any business wanting to register a trade mark in the UK.

One-to-one with IP lawyer
Our system is simple to use but unlike most online services, provides the benefit of a one-to-one discussion and advice from a specialist IP lawyer.

Clear, fixed-cost pricing
With our fixed cost service, you’ll understand up front exactly what you are paying for.

Start the registration process here