3 minute read | June.03.2024
A trade mark is a sign which can distinguish your goods and services from those of another company. Trade marks can be words or logos or a combination of the two. The sign needs to be able to be represented graphically.
Are There Any Other Requirements?
A trade mark must be distinctive. What this means is that it must be unique or characteristic in relation to the goods and services covered under the application. A trade mark must also not be descriptive of the goods and services covered by the application. What this means is the trade mark must not be indicative of the quality, quantity, purpose, value or geographical origin of your goods or services.
What Is A European Union Trade Mark (EUTM) And United Kingdom Trade Mark (UKTM), How Long Does It Take To Register And How Much Will It Cost To Apply For One?
A European Union Trade Mark ("EUTM") confers protection in all EU member states. A United Kingdom Trade Mark ("UKTM") confers protection for the UK only. For a straightforward EUTM or UKTM application, it can take 6 months from the time of application to registration. EUTMs and UKTMs are valid for 10 years and can be renewed indefinitely for periods of 10 years.
Our costs for searching, preparing and filing a standard EUTM are approximately:
Our costs for searching, preparing and filing a standard UKTM are approximately:
Please note that this estimate includes standard filing only and excludes VAT, dealing with any prosecution costs including office actions, objections, refusals or third-party oppositions, which might arise. Any time spent on these items will be dealt with at our standard hourly rate or any other alternative fee arrangement we agree with you.
What Is A US Trade Mark, How Long Does It Take To Register And How Much Will It Cost To Apply For One?
A US trade mark confers protection in the United States only. For a straightforward US trade mark application, it can take approximately 13–18 months from the time of application to registration. A US registration is valid for 10 years and can be renewed for periods of 10 years.
Our costs for preparing and filing a standard US trade mark application are approximately:
Please note that this estimate includes standard filing only and excludes VAT, dealing with any prosecution costs including office actions, objections, refusals or third-party oppositions, which might arise.
What If Somebody Else Already Owns An Identical Or Similar Trade Mark?
We offer trade mark availability searches to check whether any third parties own an earlier, identical or similar trade mark which might prevent you from obtaining registration in relation to your goods and services. If the searches reveal any potentially conflicting marks, we can provide guidance on strategies to try and overcome the conflict and provide advice on possible alternative routes to registration.
Included within our filing fees we will provide a preliminary online trade mark search on the register of interest.
Alternatively, we can provide a full trade mark search using an external service provider which is an extremely extensive search and includes company names, unregistered rights and domain names. Please let us know if you would like cost estimates for using this service.