A brand is often a business’s most important asset. It distinguishes a business from its competition and acts as a guarantee of origin when it adorns a product or is associated with a service.

Trade marks can be protected in a number of different ways. It is most commonly done, however, through the registration of trade marks.

Different types of trade marks may be registered, including a word (we call this a “word mark”), a logo (we call this a “figurative mark”), an image or something more unusual like a sound or colour scheme, with the trade mark registries around the world.

Trade marks are useful and can be valuable. A trade mark gives its holder the right to prevent others from making use of a similar or identical mark in order to prevent confusion in the marketplace.

A registered trade mark will last forever but must be renewed every ten years. The process of registration can – in the UK at least – take as little as four months, provided there are no objections from the Trade Mark Examiner or Opposition actions launched by third parties. Different processes are involved when registering your trade mark in the EU, internationally via the Madrid System, or directly via national registers. Birkett Long LLP has registered trade marks in well over a hundred different countries and will be happy to help you protect your assets.  

If you have any questions or would like to speak to an Intellectual Property specialist, please call Jonathan Perlmutter on 01206 217620 for a consultation. Visit business intellectual property solicitors for more information.