• ™ – the trademark symbol, which is the letters “TM” in superscript for an unregistered trademark, used to promote or brand goods.
• ℠ – the letters “SM” in superscript, for an unregistered service mark, used to promote or brand services.
• ® – the letter “R” within a circle, for a registered trademark (which must be used in some countries.)

Registering a trademark protects your brand and secures your intellectual property and investment. It provides you with the tools to prevent someone using similar signs from infringing on your business.

Intellectual Property Offices worldwide use a trade mark classification system that groups together similar goods or services into 45 different classes. This is often referred to as the Nice classification. Each class contains a list of pre-approved terms. These cover all the goods or services included in that class:

• goods are listed in classes 1 to 34
• services are listed in classes 35 to 45

While filing a trademark application, the class of goods and services to which the trademark pertains must be mentioned in the application. Once your application is filed, you can’t add more classes or pre-approved terms.

A UK trademark registration covers England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Once submitted, your trademark is examined by an official Trademark Examiner for the UK. If the mark is suitable, it will be published in the official Trademark Journal. There is a period of 2 months in which it is possible for an objection to be raised.

If no opposition is raised, your Trademark will be registered and you will receive your certificate of registration.

A European trademark registration covers the 28 EU countries including UK. Due to Brexit this may change with regard to the UK.

Once submitted, your Trademark is examined by the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM). This can take several weeks. If the mark is suitable, it will be published in the EU official Trademark Journal.

There is a period of approximately 4 months in which it is possible for an objection to be raised. If no opposition is raised, your Trademark will be registered. When the registration process is complete, you will receive a certificate of registration.

A UK trademark application takes 2-3 months to complete.

An EU trademark application takes roughly 4-9 months to complete.

The above time frames exclude any objections or third party oppositions. A UK trademark application will be published for a statuary period of 2 months to allow for any observations or oppositions and third parties are able to extend this by a further month. European Union trademarks are also published for opposition purposes, however this is for a non-extensible period of 3 months.

Once a trademark application has been filed it is not possible to make changes to the submitted trademark. You will have to file a new application to cover the new versions of the mark. This includes adding any categories to cover more goods or services.

When applying for your trademark registration, it is important to consider your future plans and business potential to ensure that all of the relevant class options are chosen at that time.

Two or more businesses can own the same name if the businesses are providing different goods and/or services. It is OK as long as there is no similarity in the kind of activities. Swan Electrics, Swan Matches and Swan Rental cars could use the same word “Swan” because the different activities do not confuse the public.

It is important to make sure that the classes chosen are the right ones and that no classes are overlooked.

There will be no changes to UK-registered trademarks as a result of Brexit; however Brexit will effect EU trademarks. According to the UK government website, on exit day,  the IPO will create a comparable UK trademark for every registered EU trademark (EUTM). Each of these UK rights will:

• be recorded on the UK trade mark register
• have the same legal status as if you had applied for and registered it under UK law
• keep the original EUTM filing date
• keep the original priority or UK seniority dates
• be a fully independent UK trademark that can be challenged, assigned, licensed or renewed separately from the original EUTM

​After Brexit, a new EU trademark registration application will not protect your trademark in the UK, and pending EU trademarks will have to follow special time-limited protocols to get UK registration. 

Please note that this information is just a guideline and check with the IPO directly if you are concerned regarding your intellectual property during Brexit.

Registering a trademark can be a complicated and time-consuming process, especially in addition to starting a new business or enterprise. At Trademark House we have experienced professionals and an in-house intellectual property lawyer dedicated to getting you the correct trademark registration at an affordable price.  Our service provides:

• initial & comprehensive trademark registration searches
• assistance in choosing the correct classification(s) for your trademark registration. We don’t add any services charges for additional classes; therefore, you can be certain that we have no vested interest in recommending additional classes.
• Application preparation and filing
• ongoing communication with you throughout the registration process and dealing with any objections raised.

Our flat fee means you need not worry about a spiraling invoice as your registration proceeds.

We provide a top-rate service at a low-cost, helping small businesses and sole traders start their businesses the right way, secure in the knowledge that their brand equity and investment is protected.