UK Trade Mark Application
from £332.07 + VAT*
European Trade Mark Application
in up to three classes
Application fee £1300 + VAT*
UK & EC Trade Mark
Clearance Search Form
£71.52 + VAT*
*Including ALL
Statutory Fees
European Community Trade Marks
European trade marks are the most comprehensive protection you can obtain for your business name, brand name, company logo or slogans, the protection is effective throughout the whole of the European Community. Just like the UK, once the European trade mark registration has been granted it will last for 10 years and is renewable in 10 year periods thereafter, the registration can therefore last indefinitely as long as the registration is renewed at the appropriate time.
Again, before the European trade mark application is filed it is very important to ensure that no existing identical or confusingly similar trade marks exist which are either identical of confusingly similar to your proposed trade mark. We therefore suggest that we complete our clearance searches on the UK and EC Trade Mark Registers prior to filing the application. Although the European Registrar will search against existing national European trade mark applications and registrations before accepting the application for registration, it is much more cost effective to search the UK & EC Trade Mark Registers only then file the application and wait and see the results of the examination report.
If we were to conduct 15 individual trade mark searches on all 15 national European Trade Mark Registers prior to filing the application these searches would cost approximately £4000, which by far outweighs the cost of filing the application.
The procedure for obtaining a European trade mark registration is exactly the same as the UK, however because of the amount of applications received at the European Trade Marks Registry and due to the delay with correspondence, it will take approximately 12 -18 months to obtain the registration.
An additional advantage of a European trade mark is that the application can cover up to three classes without incurring any additional fees.
As soon as the registration has been granted we will conduct, free for the first year, a monthly trade mark watching search to ensure that we are aware of any new trade mark applications filed on either the UK or EC Trade Mark Registers which are either identical or confusingly similar to your existing trade mark registration. After the initial first free year, our watching searches are then renewable annually.
International Trade Marks
There is also an International trade mark registration whereby one application can cover any country party to the International system, the International system is known professionally as the Madrid System and the application can cover any country party to the Madrid Protocol.
An International trade mark application must be based on a 'home' registration and therefore the trade mark must be filed on the UK Trade Marks Register or European Community Trade Marks Register prior to filing the International application. The International application is dependent on the 'home' application or registration for the first 5 years and therefore it is important that the 'home' registration is maintained until the 5-year period has ended.
Please note that if your 'home' registration is refused registration or is declared invalid or revoked within the first 5 years of the filing date of the International application, the International application will also be cancelled.
Again, it is important that a trade mark clearance search is completed in the countries of interest prior to filing the International application, however in some circumstances the search fees are more expensive than the application fee and therefore in these circumstances it is more cost effective to file the application and wait and see whether an objection is raised against it.
Just like UK and EC trade marks, International trade mark registrations last for 10 years and are then renewable in 10 year periods thereafter.
