Top-Rated Trademark Services

A registered trade mark gives you the exclusive legal right to stop others using a confusingly similar name or logo for related goods and services. That protects your reputation, your sales and your room to grow,  and it becomes a genuine business asset when you license, franchise, raise investment or sell. Without registration you’re relying on the harder, more expensive route of proving ‘passing off‘. Registering early is almost always the cheaper option in the long run.

The total cost has two parts: the official UKIPO fee and our professional fee. The UKIPO charges per class of goods and services, so the more classes you need, the higher the official element – and those official fees are reviewed periodically. On top of that, our fixed professional fee covers the clearance search, class strategy, drafting and filing, so you know the full figure before we start. Because the right number of classes depends on what you sell, the most accurate next step is a quick, no-obligation quote. Contact us and we’ll set it out clearly.

For detailed guidance on trade mark registration fees and a full breakdown of costs, visit our Trade Mark Registration page or contact us today.

A UK trade mark lasts ten years from its registration date and can be renewed every ten years for as long as you keep using and protecting the brand — in effect, indefinitely. You can renew from six months before the expiry date, and there’s a six-month grace period afterwards (late renewal carries an extra fee). We manage renewal deadlines for clients so a valuable mark is never lost to a missed date.

To receive expert guidance on managing or renewing your trade marks with ease, speak with one of our specialist trade mark solicitors, or contact us today.

Ideally both, but if budget is tight, protect the name first. Your business name usually stays constant while logos get refreshed, so a word mark for the name gives broader, longer-lasting protection – it covers the name however it’s styled. A logo mark then protects the specific design. We’ll advise on the most cost-effective combination for your brand, and whether a slogan is worth protecting too.

Explore your options for protecting your brand on our Brand Protection Services page or by contacting us today.

You can use ™ freely on any name, logo or slogan you treat as your trade mark, registered or not — it simply signals that you claim it as a brand. The ® symbol is different: it may only be used on a mark that is actually registered, and misusing it is an offence. So use ™ while your application is pending, and switch to ® once your mark is on the register. If you spot someone copying a protected mark, we can advise on the best response.

Learn more about correctly using trade mark symbols by contacting one of our in-house trademark solicitors today.

Some things can’t be registered: marks that are offensive or misleading, purely descriptive terms (like ‘soft’ for pillows), generic words (like ‘bread’ for a bakery), most geographical place names, common surnames on their own, and protected emblems such as flags. The line between ‘descriptive’ and ‘distinctive’ is where applications most often succeed or fail — which is exactly where a clearance search and good class strategy earn their keep.

Find out more about trade mark eligibility and restrictions by visiting our knowledge hub, or book onto one of our FREE 45-minute IP clinics. For more information, give us a call today.

A trade mark protects the things that identify your brand — names, logos and slogans — and is strongest once registered. Copyright protects original creative works such as text, images, music and code, and arises automatically the moment the work is created, with no registration in the UK. Many businesses rely on both: a trade-marked brand name alongside copyright in the artwork and website behind it.

Understand which type of intellectual property suits your business needs at our Copyright information page, or contact us today.

Possibly — it depends on how established the existing user is and whether you operate in similar fields. Someone using a name without registering it may still have built up ‘common-law’ rights through trading, which can block or challenge your application. That’s why a proper clearance search before you file is so important, and it’s built into our trade mark filing service.

We offer thorough competitor clearance searches for your brand and proposed trade marks as part of our trade mark registration service. For further information, contact one of our trade mark solicitors today.

Once a mark has been registered for five years, it can be challenged for non-use, so you may need to show genuine commercial use in the UK for the goods and services it covers. Helpful evidence includes dated invoices, advertising, packaging and marketing materials showing the mark in real use. Keeping tidy records from launch makes this straightforward – we can advise on what to keep.

Get professional help gathering suitable evidence by speaking with one of our specialist trade mark solicitors today.

Sometimes – an ordinary word can be registered if it isn’t descriptive of your goods and has become distinctive of your brand. ‘Apple’ is an everyday word but highly distinctive for computers. The key is that the word mustn’t simply describe what you sell. We advise on how distinctive a proposed mark is and how to build one strong enough to register and defend.

Find out how to build a strong, distinctive trade mark and get in touch with us today.

There’s no legal requirement to use one, but professional help significantly improves your chances of a clean registration and helps you avoid costly mistakes, especially with multi-class or more complex applications. We’re often approached by people whose self-filed applications have hit objections, when the fix is harder and slower than getting it right first time. Given how much a brand is worth, expert filing is a small, sensible investment.

Ensure your registration goes smoothly by contacting our specialists via our Trade Mark Registration page or speaking with one of our specialist trade mark solicitors here.

If no objections or oppositions arise, a UK trade mark is usually registered in around four months. The UKIPO examines the application within a few weeks, then publishes it for a two-month period during which others can oppose (extendable to three months). If the examiner raises an objection, or a competitor opposes, it takes longer. A solid clearance search before filing is the best way to keep to the shorter timeline.

Yes, you can file directly with the UKIPO yourself. The risk is in the detail – choosing the wrong classes, drafting a specification that’s too narrow or too broad, or filing a mark that’s open to objection or opposition. These issues are cheaper to avoid than to fix. Many of our clients come to us after a DIY application has stalled, so we often recommend at least a clearance check before you commit.

Since Brexit, a UK trade mark only covers the UK and an EU trade mark (EUTM) only covers the remaining EU member states – you now need both to be protected across the UK and Europe. Existing EUTMs were cloned onto the UK register in 2021, but any new filing must cover each territory separately. We can file and coordinate both so nothing falls through the gap.

Slogans can be registered if they’re distinctive rather than merely descriptive or promotional – short, brand-specific taglines tend to fare best. Colours and other ‘non-traditional’ marks are possible but harder: you generally have to show the public already associates that colour with you specifically. We’ll give you a realistic view of how registrable a slogan or colour is before you spend on filing.