What is a trade mark?

The words “trademark” and “trade mark” are often used interchangeably.

A trade mark is a logo or a name associated with a business, product or brand. It can be an image, words or combination of both of these.

Who can have a trade mark?

Anyone can trademark their logo or name. There are criteria for this and as long as you meet the criteria the trademark status should be granted.

Your application may fail if your logo falls foul of this criteria:

It is offensive or illegal (promoting an illegal activity)
It is a recognised customary mark in your industry
It is a protected emblem like a coat of arms or flag etc.
It is deceptive. This could mean that it depicts something about your product that is not true.
3D shapes that have a function or look like the product you are interested in.

There are other criteria too and you can read more about that here:

Trademark Criteria

Why should I have a trade mark?

You should register your mark to stop others in the UK using it. You can add the ® symbol to warn others that your mark is protected. It is illegal to use the ® symbol if the trademark is not registered.

If you don’t register your trade mark, you can still protect it under common law. There is an action in common law called passing off. As long as you can prove the trade mark is yours, you have built a reputation up using it and you have suffered harm by someone else using it then you may be able to win a case of someone passing off. This is not an easy thing to prove in court and can prove to be very expensive to follow through.

Registering your trademark means that you can send in the police or trading standards if someone is copying your mark on their goods and services. It becomes a property that you can sell on or license people to use and it acts as a deterrent against anyone thinking about stealing your design.

Registering your design makes it easier to defend in court rather than relying on the difficult to prove common law of passing off.

Before you apply for trademark status

There is government advice and booklets that you should read (see the PDF’s resource at the end of the article) to make sure that your design meets the criteria for registering it as a trademark. It is important that you read this and also check to see that the design is not already registered by someone else.

You should read this page here:

Before You Apply For A Trademark

Applying for your trademark

The cost is currently £200 to apply yourself. Trademarks are applied to different classes and should your mark be registered in another class in addition to it’s main class the cost is currently £50 per additional class.

You can search the different classes to see what you should register for here:

Trademark Classification Search

You can check that the design is not already registered or has been already refused here:

Existing Trademark Search

Once you are ready to register your design you can do that online here:

Register For Your Trademark

If you want to fast track the registration it will cost you £500 instead of the £200 already mentioned. Once you start the process online you have 28days to complete it. There is a save function that allows you to pick up where you left off.

You can also use a lawyer to complete your application. This will cost you considerably more but may well help you cover all the classes you need to protect yourself in. The lawyer may also help you protect your mark overseas. A good place to look for a lawyer that can help you with this is here:

The Institute Of Trademark Attorneys

How long does my trademark last?

In the UK your trademark needs to be reregistered every 10 years.

A bit of fun

Take the trademark quiz to see if you have taken in all the information presented to you.

Take The Trademark Quiz

Resources

Sites:
UK trademark Website
European Trademark Website
Trading Standards

Must Read PDF’s:
Trademarks Essential Reading
Applying To Register A Trademark
Examination Fact Sheet