Registering a Trademark

A trademark is one of many valuable pieces of intellectual property that may belong to you and your business. It can take many forms including a word, phrase or slogan, a logo or symbol, a company name, a sound or jingle, a colour and even a smell!

Creative State tends to deal with clients requiring the trademarking of a logo. Once a logo is registered you can use a ® symbol which is more effective than ™ as it means it's registered to you as a trademark, whereas ™ means you're claiming it as your trademark under common law, which doesn't fully protect you.

The first step we take in registering a trademark is to approach a trademark specialist or lawyer to conduct the necessary searches. A trademark must be distinctive for the market and Class it is registered in. Trademark Classes are a list of goods/services that your logo (or other item) can be registered under. A trademark specialist or lawyer will search the appropriate classes to see if there are any conflicting trademarks. The cost associated with searching (at the time of writing) is £80(3 classes) + 10/Class (+VAT) for each trademark, plus lawyer's fees.

For example, a registration we're working on at the moment for a charity walk will fall into Class 36 first and foremost (although the short description for this class states financial affairs it actually covers a great deal more). Within Class 36 there must be no other logo, name or phrase that bears a resemblance to the charity walk's name in order for us to register it within that Class.

Providing all is well after the searches are conducted, you can go ahead and have your logo trademarked. The cost associated with the UK registration is £200 (3 Classes) +£50/Class for each trademark.

You can find out more information regarding trademarks at the following places:

Business Link

Duly Noted Blog

And if you have too much time on your hands you might like to read about french fries.

For more information please get in touch.