Trademark Application

I submitted a trademark application in December 2016. I heard last week that the application had been successful, which means that my brand identity is now registered with the Intellectual Property Office (IPO).

My original application was filed on 10 December, at which point it was reviewed by the Trade Marks Registry to confirm whether it met the requirements for registration – namely that it should include words, sounds, logos, colours, or a combination of these. It did.

Having confirmed that the application met the requirements, the logo was published in the Trade Marks Journal on 23 December. This signalled the start of a two-month opposition period, during which time anybody could comment on the suitability of the trademark for acceptance, or oppose its registration. If somebody submitted a notice of intended opposition, the two-month period would be extended by an extra month. The letter I received from the Trade Marks Registry said that around 5% of applications are opposed at present.

The two months passed, and a couple of weeks later, I had confirmation that the trademark had been registered. The registration lasts for ten years, at which point I can apply to renew it. It felt as though the process took a long time, but three months is really no time for a trademark which is now registered for ten years.

I did wonder at the outset whether as a sole trader, it was worth applying for trademark protection. My reasoning for submitting the application went along the following lines: I insure my business premises, and my kit, it makes sense to insure my brand identity too. The trademark is part of the business, and is often the first thing that catches people’s eye. Having a registered trademark means that others cannot trade with the same brand identity. A big part of setting up as a sole trader is marketing, and setting aside a couple of hundred pounds towards a trademark application – although not a small amount – seemed a sensible investment to make, before spending money on brand items such as business cards and flyers.

There are other ways of putting a marker against your company name, but no other way to protect your business trademark. Sole traders do not need to register their business name with Companies House, although they can check whether there are other companies with similar names. A limited company which registers with Companies House is stopping others from registering the same company name, but is not protecting its brand trademark. In these days of online presence, websites are often a key feature of a business. But owning a domain name does not protect your trademark, even if the website address includes the same wording as the trademark.

Starting as a sole trader is exciting and nerve-wracking. It can be fun investing time and energy into the design and presentation elements of the business at the expense of undertaking some of the more time consuming processes. However, the business will grow best if the foundations are in place at an early stage. Securing a registered trademark is a sensible step towards preparing a solid basis on which to build.