Prior to filing a trade mark application, the first recommended step is to carry out a trade mark search.
A trade mark search is of fundamental importance as it analyses your trade mark’s likelihood of success and explores the current trade marks on the databases and aims to determine whether your application could face any challenges during the registration process.
A trade mark search is ultimately a risk report. It denotes whether your mark is devoid of distinctive character or deemed as descriptive of the goods and services. These are factors that the trade mark examiner would take into consideration when analysing your mark. In accordance with UK trade mark laws, a trade mark which provides consumers with an indication of its commercial origin or services or is devoid of distinctive character, cannot be registered as a trade mark.
The search will also indicate whether your trade mark falls foul of the other rules and criteria a trade mark must comply with prior to registration, including the need for the mark not to be offensive or laudatory.
In addition to the suitability of the mark itself, one of the common challenges that individuals and businesses face when filing for a trade mark application is finding out that a highly similar or identical trade mark already exists. The owner of these highly similar and identical marks could approach the trade mark applicant asking them to withdraw their application or proceed with filing an opposition. If the opposition is successful, it will block your trade mark application from registration and prevent you from using that mark in the future. Therefore, if a trade mark search is not carried out prior to filing an application, you or your business could be entering the application process without adequate information, which could lead to costly repercussions and a failed application.
Therefore, it is strongly recommended to obtain a trade mark search as it provides you with potentially invaluable information which your application could depend upon, giving you the best chance for success.
Here at The Trademarkroom we offer a very basic free UK and EU trade mark search which will highlight any identical trade marks that are registered in identical goods and services.
Alternatively, we offer an advanced search report which has a fee of £100.00 plus VAT and is the recommended option as it is far more extensive than a basic search because we search the following:
In the US, the fees for our search options are as follows:
In Canada, the fees for our search options are as follows:
All work carried out by the Trademarkroom is overseen by qualified or trainee Solicitors who also work at Lawdit Solicitors, a law firm regulated by the Law Society.
