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When expanding your brand internationally, the timing of your trade mark applications can be extremely important.
You may have heard your trade mark attorney or solicitor ask:
“Do you want to claim priority from your earlier application?”
But what does claiming priority actually mean, when can you do it, and why could it make a significant difference to the protection of your brand?
At The Trademarkroom, we regularly assist businesses with UK and international trade mark filing strategies. Priority is an important part of that strategy, particularly where a business intends to protect the same brand in several countries.
What is trade mark priority?
Put simply, priority can allow you to use the filing date of an earlier trade mark application when subsequently applying to protect the same trade mark in another country.
Under section 35 of the Trade Marks Act 1994, a person who has duly filed a trade mark application in a Convention country can, subject to the applicable requirements, claim priority when filing a UK application for the same trade mark covering some or all of the same goods or services. The priority period is six months from the filing date of the first application.
The principle originates from the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and is designed to make international intellectual property protection more manageable.
Rather than having to file applications in numerous countries simultaneously, an applicant can make an initial filing and then has a limited period in which to decide where else protection is required.
How does priority work in practice?
Imagine that a UK business creates a new brand called NOVAORA.
It files its first trade mark application in the United Kingdom on:
1 September 2026
The business then decides that it also wants protection for NOVAORA in other territories.
Provided the relevant requirements are satisfied, it could potentially file corresponding applications within the following six months and claim priority from its original application.
For priority purposes, those subsequent applications can then benefit from the earlier 1 September 2026 date.
The EU trade mark system operates on the same general six-month principle for qualifying earlier applications. Article 34 of the EU Trade Mark Regulation provides for a six-month priority period where the relevant requirements are met.
Why is the priority date important?
The significance of priority becomes much clearer when another business files a competing application during the six-month period.
Using our example:
1 September 2026
You file your first application for NOVAORA.
15 November 2026
Another business files an application for an identical or confusingly similar mark.
15 December 2026
You file a corresponding application in another relevant territory and validly claim priority from your 1 September application.
Although your second application was physically filed on 15 December, its priority claim may allow you to rely upon the earlier 1 September date when determining which rights take precedence.
Under section 35(2) of the Trade Marks Act 1994, where a valid UK priority claim is made, the relevant date for establishing which rights take precedence is the filing date of the first qualifying Convention application.
This can be extremely valuable. In trade mark disputes, dates matter.
Does priority mean my second application was actually filed on the earlier date?
Not exactly. This is an important distinction.
The second application still has its own actual filing date. A valid priority claim gives the applicant the benefit of the earlier date for particular legal purposes, most importantly when determining the precedence of competing rights.
The UKIPO has recently reiterated this distinction in opposition proceedings, noting that priority does not simply move the filing date backwards for every legal purpose.
It is therefore better to think of priority as giving the application the benefit of an earlier effective date for priority purposes, rather than literally changing when the application was filed.
Does the trade mark have to be the same?
Priority is not a mechanism for filing one brand and then using that filing to obtain an earlier date for a completely different brand.
Section 35 refers to registering the same trade mark.
Applicants should therefore be cautious about making significant changes to their branding between their first application and subsequent international filings.
If your original application was for one version of a logo, for example, but your branding team substantially redesigns that logo before the overseas application is filed, the position needs to be considered carefully.
This is one of the reasons why international filing strategies should ideally be considered before the first application is submitted.
What about the goods and services?
The same principle applies to the goods and services.
A UK priority claim can apply to some or all of the same goods or services covered by the earlier application.
However, an applicant cannot generally use priority to retrospectively obtain an earlier date for completely new goods or services that were not covered by the qualifying earlier application.
For example, imagine your original application covered:
Class 25 – Clothing, footwear and headgear.
You subsequently file another application covering:
Class 25 – Clothing, footwear and headgear
Class 35 – Retail services
Class 41 – Fitness training services
The fact that the later application contains additional services does not necessarily mean the entire priority claim fails. Priority can potentially apply only to the goods or services properly covered by the earlier application.
UKIPO guidance expressly recognises that priority may relate to all of the goods and services in an application or only part of them.
This is known as partial priority.
Can an application have more than one priority claim?
Potentially, yes.
There can be circumstances where different parts of an application benefit from different priority dates.
UKIPO guidance recognises that several partial priority claims can potentially be included within an application covering different goods or services. However, there can only be one priority claim for any particular goods or services.
This can become technically complicated very quickly, particularly where a business has filed multiple applications as its product range has developed.
Professional advice can therefore be particularly useful where multiple priorities are involved.
How do I claim priority in a UK application?
Where priority is being claimed in a UK trade mark application, details of the priority claim should be included when the application is filed.
The current UKIPO TM3 application form provides a specific section for a priority claim. It requests details including:
- the priority country;
- the application or registration number;
- the priority date; and
- whether priority is claimed for all or only some of the goods and services.
UKIPO guidance also states that supporting priority documents do not ordinarily need to be submitted automatically, although the UKIPO can request them.
Getting these details right is important. The UKIPO identifies an inaccurate priority claim as one of the inconsistencies that can arise during its preliminary examination of a new application.
Priority is particularly important for international expansion
Priority can be extremely useful for businesses that are launching internationally but are not yet ready to incur the cost of filing everywhere on day one.
A business might, for example:
Month 0: File its first trade mark application.
Months 1–3: Assess potential international markets.
Months 3–5: Decide which countries are commercially important.
Before the six-month deadline: File the relevant overseas applications and claim priority where available.
This provides a valuable period in which a business can consider its international strategy while potentially preserving the benefit of its initial filing date.
But the six-month window can pass surprisingly quickly.
Don’t automatically file everywhere
The existence of priority does not mean that every business should immediately file trade mark applications in dozens of countries.
International trade mark protection should be commercially focused.
Before deciding where to file, consider:
- Where are you currently trading?
- Where are your customers located?
- Where will you realistically trade during the next few years?
- Where are your products manufactured?
- Which territories present the greatest counterfeiting or infringement risk?
- Are you selling through international e-commerce platforms?
- Are distributors or franchisees involved?
- Are particular overseas markets central to your expansion plans?
The objective should be to create a trade mark portfolio which supports the commercial strategy of the business rather than simply accumulating registrations.
Think internationally before making the first filing
One of the best opportunities to develop an international trade mark strategy is actually before the first application is filed.
At that point, consideration can be given to:
- Who should own the trade mark?
- What version of the brand should be protected?
- Which goods and services should be covered?
- Which countries are commercially important?
- Should a UK, EU or other national application be filed first?
- Will subsequent applications claim priority?
- Would an International Registration through the Madrid System be appropriate?
Making these decisions early can produce a much more coherent and cost-effective trade mark portfolio.
How The Trademarkroom can help
At The Trademarkroom, we assist businesses with trade mark protection in the UK and internationally.
Whether you are filing your first UK application or expanding an existing brand into overseas markets, we can help you develop a filing strategy which considers not only where protection is required but also when applications should be made.
Where you have already filed an application, we can also consider:
- whether you are still within the six-month priority period;
- whether your earlier application provides a valid basis for priority;
- which goods and services can benefit from the claim;
- where further protection should be sought; and
- the most appropriate route for securing international protection.
Don’t let the six-month priority window pass without considering your international strategy.
Speak to The Trademarkroom about protecting your brand in the UK, European Union and internationally.
The Trademarkroom – protecting your brand at home and around the world.
This article is provided for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Priority rules and filing requirements vary depending upon the territories and applications involved, and specific advice should be obtained before relying upon a priority claim.
