Every year, the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office (UK Intellectual Property Office, UKIPO) receives 80-90 thousand new applications under national procedures and 10-13 thousand under international procedures (under the Madrid procedure). In total, there are more than half a million active brands in Britain.
You can register a trademark in the United Kingdom by filing an application directly with the Office of Intellectual Property, or through an international procedure based on a national registration in another country.
There are no separate trademarks of England or Scotland – one trademark is valid for the entire territory of Britain.
The United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office registers word, pictorial, combined, three-dimensional, sound, multimedia and other designations. The sign must be distinctive, not descriptive, not misleading, not contrary to moral principles, and not repeating or imitating previously registered trademarks or using protected geographical indications.
A trademark can also be registered in Cyrillic but only in the form of an image (picture), and not as a word mark. It is also necessary to determine the class and list of goods / services for which the trademark will be used.
A registered trademark is not required to register a .uk domain name. However, in the event of a dispute, the owner of the relevant trademark certificate may have an advantage in rights.
Given the huge number of trademarks already registered, there is a high probability that the selected designation will be already taken. It is recommended therefore to conduct database search. Availability search significantly increases the chances of a successful registration.
Benefits of registering a trademark in the UK are the following:
protection of your brand value as well as your product or service against the rival marks;
additional asset to your company;
give you rights and prevention of counterfeiting and fraud.
The cost of registering a trademark in the UK
You can choose from two assessment types:
Standard: the expense is £170, it’s non-refundable and payable in advance.
Right start: it costs £200 altogether, yet you just need to pay £100 forthright. In case your application is dismissed for some reason, your sunk cost is just £100.
If you’ve added different classes, it’s £50 extra for each class.
The timing of registering a trademark in the UK
Standard: It takes around or past 20 days for assessment
Right start: It takes around or past 20 days for assessment
