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Creating a trade mark for your UK business is a big decision. It can be challenging to determine what elements of your business brand to trade mark. Registered trade marks are beneficial as they give you exclusive rights to use them. This article will explore what makes a good trade mark in England.
Trade Marks
A trade mark protects elements of your business’ brand. For example, you can trade mark your:
- business name;
- logo;
- product names;
- other brand elements such as sounds and colours; and
- a mixture of any of these things.
If you have any particularly vital goods that your business sells, you may also want to consider trade marks relating to those.
Requirements for Registration
Your proposed trade mark should be unique and distinctive to your business and not similar to any other existing brand. There are additional rules about what is acceptable for a registered trademark.
It must not:
- be offensive, so should not contain any swear words;
- describe what your business does or what it sells, so if you sell computers, it should not state ‘computer’ in it;
- be misleading. For example, if you sell garments made from manufactured fibres, you cannot have, say, wool, cotton, or natural in your trade mark as this would mislead the customer into believing that your products are from natural materials;
- be a 3-dimensional shape associated with what you sell, so if you sell oranges, you cannot trade mark an orange shape;
- look similar to any state symbol, like a country’s flag.
LegalVision’s Trade Mark Essentials Guide provides valuable information for any business looking to register or enforce a trade mark.
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Creating a Trade Mark
There are some excellent strategies when deciding on a trade mark. Many famous brands use completely invented words or combine parts of existing words, for example:
- Microsoft;
- Spotify;
- Facebook; and
- YouTube.
Words like Netflix and Google are now ubiquitous and have even become verbs, and we associate them with those particular brands. Other brands take words unconnected with what their business does and create a famous brand and trade mark from that, for example, Amazon and Pashley bicycles.
One prominent example is Apple Inc. Clearly, apples have nothing to do with computers. Apple has been subject to various trade mark infringement claims by Apple Records (the Beatles’ record company, which has nothing to do with apples) over the years. These ended in a settlement with Apple Inc., acquiring all trade marks relating to Apple and licensing rights to Apple Records.
Uniqueness
Once you have come up with an idea for your trade mark, you must check that there is no existing, similar trade mark. You can also search for existing trade marks by keyword to see whether other trade marks exist that include your keyword or mixture of keywords. For example, searching for the keyword ‘pineapple’ reveals a few different trade marks.
Right Start Application
Ideally, you should seek the advice of a qualified trade mark attorney before applying for your business’ trade marks. However, you can take advantage of the UK Intellectual Property Office with their ‘Right Start’ application service. This costs £30 more than a standard trade mark application but means that the IPO will consider your application first. They will let you know whether it meets the requirements for trade mark registration, including if other parties have a similar trade mark.
If you choose not to proceed or your mark is not registrable, you will lose the fee you have already paid. However, this is better than losing your entire payment of £170 for one class and £50 for each extra class for a standard application if your mark was not registrable and you do not proceed.
Key Takeaways
You can protect your business using trade marks for your business name, logo, and any other brand element. Your business trade mark must be distinctive and unique and meet the requirements for a valid trade mark. It could also, for example, use invented words and words not connected to your business. You can apply for your trade mark through the IPO’s ‘Right Start’ application service. They will tell you if your trade mark meets the requirements for registration and whether anyone has registered a similar trade mark. This is a good option if you are applying for a trade mark for the first time without assistance from a trade mark attorney.
If you need help creating your trade mark, our experienced intellectual property lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. For a low monthly fee, you will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents. Call us today on 0808 196 8584 or visit our membership page.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Right Start Trade Mark application service is a method of applying for your trade mark which will allow the Intellectual Property Office to assess your application to see whether your intended trade mark is appropriate.
A good trade mark is both unique and distinctive. For example, words which are unconnected from the products or services your company sells.
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