Trade marks explained

What is a trade mark? A trade mark is a sign that enables customers and the public to distinguish your goods or services from those of your competitors.  A trade mark may be a word, a group of words, a logo, a phrase or slogan, any combination of these, or even a particular shape, colour arrangement or smell!

Protecting a trade mark Your trade mark can reflect a valuable reputation.  In order to protect a trade mark, we strongly advise you to register the trade mark.  The owner of a registered trade mark has the legal right to stop a third party from commercially using an identical or confusingly similar mark, in relation to identical or similar goods or services.

Can you register your trade mark? Not all trade marks are registerable. For instance, a trade mark will only be registered if the relevant Trade Marks Registry is satisfied that the trade mark is sufficiently distinctive to function as a trade mark, ie it is not simply descriptive of the goods or services in relation to which it is used.  Furthermore, owners of earlier registered trade marks may oppose the application on the basis that the trade marks are confusingly similar to each other.

Where AdamsonJones comes in

AdamsonJones can advise on every aspect of trade mark practice.  The most important aspects of our role are:

• advising you in relation to your freedom to use a proposed trade mark, based on trade mark clearance searches in the relevant countries

• preparing registered trade mark applications in a way that offers the broadest protection, yet has a reasonable prospect of being allowable and subsequently enforceable

• steering the application through all the stages of the procedure, including representing you in any opposition proceedings

After a trade mark has been registered, we assist with the maintenance of the registered trade mark and advise on its enforcement in the event that the registered trade mark is infringed by a competitor.

Download guides For more information about UK and overseas trade mark procedures and costs, follow these links:

Basic guide - UK Trade Marks

Basic guide – Overseas Trade Marks

You may also find some of the links to external websites on our Useful Links page helpful.

Point of difference