Register Trademark UK
While it is not required by law, it is a good idea to register the name of your business as a trademark. In the event that another business tries to use the same or similar name, you will have legal recourse to stop it. A trademarked name marks all of your products and services as yours and no one else's and can also protect you from counterfeit products.
When you register your trade mark, you’ll be able to:
· take legal action against anyone who uses your brand without your permission, including counterfeiters
· put the ® symbol next to your brand - to show that it’s yours and warn others against using it
· sell and license your brand
It is often misunderstood that registering a company name or product with Companies House covers it as a trademark as well. But unfortunately a little bit more groundwork is needed. It must be registered with the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) too.
It’s a good idea to check that the website domain name of your proposed trade mark is available. Though it’s important to mention that if someone else owns the website domain name of your proposed trade mark this won’t stop you from being able to register your business name as a trade mark.
Avoid being too literal with the trade mark name as anything too descriptive will be flatly rejected. A trade mark cannot include a famous name or existing brand without written permission. One of the simplest ways to ensure a successful trade mark name application is to create an entirely unique name or word, these are regarded as coined words.
On applying to the IPO you’ll need to provide details of what you want to register e.g. a word, slogan or illustration as well as the trade mark classes you want to register for, e.g. class 1: chemicals or class 43: food and drink services. The UK’s trade mark classification system is divided between goods in classes 1-34 and services in classes 35-45.
The IPO offers a free search engine of both UK and Community trade marks. In the event you find any identical trade marks and they are registered for goods or services similar to or identical to ones you want to trade mark then this could pose problems.
However, there are ways around this, particularly if you’re prepared to send a letter of consent to the existing trade mark holder or apply to revoke the trade mark if it is more than five years old and unused in the relevant classification.
