Your Guide To The UK Trademark Application

All UK trademarks are registered at the UK Intellectual Property Office, and are valid for a 10-year period. They are then renewable for another 10 years, thereby protecting your trademarked goods, services, business name, etc. from use by others. The application process can take as little as 30 days, but on average takes approx. 4 months, and the trademark is granted based on your application date.

Searching Trademarks

Prior to filling out the trademark registration application, you can do an online trademark search for £50.00. This will save you a great deal of time and money registering, only to find out that your trademark has previously been registered.

Cost of Trademark Application

The current cost of your trademark application in the UK

No. Classes Fee VAT 20% Registry Fee Total

1 £330.00 £66.00 £200 £596.00
2 £370.00 £74.00 £250 £694.00
3 £415.00 £83.00 £300 £798.00
4 £455.00 £91.00 £350 £896.00
5 £495.00 £99.00 £400 £994.00

The more classes you register the lower the fee per class becomes for trademark registration. The EU application significantly increases the cost to £1798.00 for the first class up to £2195.00 for the registration of five classes. Prices are subject to change, so check with the UK Intellectual Property Office for the most current pricing.

Your Trademark Application Examination

When you file directly at the UK IPO within 10 days you will have an official trademark examination. If there are any problems with your trademark application, you will be notified within those 10 days. At the time of registration, the UK IPO Examiner will share with you whether they believe your application has merit, so you will have a pretty good idea of the outcome at the time of filing.

Grounds for Refusal

There are only two reasons for a trademark refusal. There are

> Absolute grounds - if your trademark application is not distinctive enough, if it is offensive or if it is too descriptive your application will be denied.

> Relative grounds - According to Section 5 of the UK Trade Marks Act 1994, a trademark cannot be registered because of earlier conflicting trademarks that are too similar and confusion could arise. If there is an earlier trademark that supersedes it will be denied. You do have the right to appeal.

UK Trademark Acceptance

Upon acceptance of your UK trademark it will be published in the next Trade Marks Bulletin for a period of 60 days, to advertise to others who may be opposed and who may appeal the decision to grant the trademark. Very few people ever actually read these bulletins so you really don't have a lot to worry about here. However, 1 out of 20 applications are opposed through other notification channels.

Filing of Opposition

The UK IPO notifies owners of international and UK trademarks that are identified as being similar in nature but not so much that the application is denied. Owners, who are registered to receive the Trademark Registration notifications, will be notified and can file an opposition if they believe there is a conflict occurring.

Your trademark is important and over time it grows in value. It's not unusual for a trademark to become worth millions of dollars. Make sure have the necessary protection.