Trademark registration guidance

A trademark is the only thing stopping someone else trading under your name, and the cheapest time to secure it is before you have printed anything.

The search comes first. Most refusals are avoidable: a mark that is already registered in your class, or one that is descriptive of the goods themselves, will not get through. We search the register and give you an honest read on whether the mark is worth filing before you spend on it.

Then the classes. Goods and services are divided into forty-five classes under the Nice classification, and protection is class by class — registering a name for software does not stop someone using it on clothing. We pick the classes that match what you actually sell and what you plan to sell.

Then the filing. Form TM-A, with the government fee at the concessional rate available to individuals, startups and small enterprises, or the standard rate otherwise, per class. You can use the ™ symbol from the day of filing; ® has to wait for registration.

Then the waiting, which is where most applications die. The Registry issues an examination report raising objections, and a reply is due within a fixed window — miss it and the application is abandoned. If the mark clears examination it is published in the Trade Marks Journal, and third parties have a window to oppose. Registration, once granted, runs ten years and is renewable indefinitely.

We handle the search, the filing and the examination reply. Contested opposition and rectification proceedings are litigation — we will tell you plainly when a matter has crossed into that, and help you brief a trademark attorney rather than pretending otherwise.