Trade mark registration is always a safe bet for businesses who want to legally own their IP. It’s a common way to protect your valuable assets in an increasingly competitive business environment. This is because your ownership of your IP is legally enforceable, so if someone tries to use your IP (for example, your logo), then legal action can be taken!

You can register many things as a trade mark, such as words, sounds, logos or colours.

However, there is a specific process to follow with the IPO – this is where our lawyers come in.

If you want to register a trade mark in the EU, you’ll need to register it with the IPO.

Firstly, you want to conduct a trade mark search. This is your way of ensuring that the trade mark you want to register doesn’t already exist, otherwise, your application will be rejected (your application could also be rejected for other reasons, such as offensiveness).

Next, you’ll need to send your application to IPO either online or by post. The IPO will assess your application and notify you of the results. If it proceeds to the next stage, the IPO will publish the details of your application in the journal so that other parties have the opportunity to raise any issues, concerns or oppose the trade mark application – this is a separate process, so chat to our lawyers if you are in this stage!

If it makes it past the opposition period, then your trade mark is officially registered! The process can take about 3 to 4 months depending on whether any issues arise. To avoid any issues or delays in your application, it’s best to seek legal help. Chat to our friendly team today to learn about next steps.

When you register a trade mark, a part of the process is selecting a class or category of goods that your trade mark fits into.

The IPO uses a system known as the Nice classification, which includes 45 trade mark classes that you can choose from. This part of the process is vital as selecting the wrong category could lead to a pointless application. So, it’s wise to speak to a lawyer who can help you take all the right steps in the process – this will also ensure minimal hiccups and will help you avoid lengthy waiting times for your trade mark registration!

If your business conducts activities overseas or in more than one country, you may want to look into registering an international trade mark. International trade mark registration works a bit differently to just EU Trade Mark Registration.

It’s best to refer to the Madrid System, which is a system designed for registering trade marks across the world. It’s a common option as businesses only need to file a single international trade mark application and one set of fees to register their trade mark in up to 129 countries, which makes things really efficient!

Visit the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to learn more.

Our package starts from £800 + VAT. It includes:

• An initial 30-minute phone consultation with a legal expert to explain the trade mark process and ensure you have all the correct, relevant information
• Submitting an application for 1 trade mark in 1 class (each additional class will incur an additional charge)
• Monitoring correspondence from the Intellectual Property Office throughout the application process

Our team is made up of experienced lawyers, who are specialists in various areas of law. Many of our team have trained at leading law firms and left the traditional corporate law world to join us on our mission to create a new and better way of delivering legal services. Our team has expertise in all areas of startup law, including technology law, intellectual property law, contract drafting and review, corporate law and commercial law.

Our use of technology allows our team members to work remotely from around the world, including the UK and Australia. We generally work with our clients entirely online and over the phone. Our UK team often work out of Flow Space co-working spaces in London.

Sprintlaw is a new type of a legal practice called a ‘legal consultancy.’ This is a new, innovative model of practice which has been available since 25 November 2019 when the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) rolled out certain regulatory reforms in England and Wales. You can read more about legal consultancies in our ‘FAQs’ page, here.

To work with us, just submit an enquiry through the site. After you’ve submitted an enquiry, one of our legal project managers will review your enquiry within 1 business day and get in touch to get a better idea of exactly what you are looking for.

Then your legal project manager will send through an email with a bit more information about the services you need, along with a fixed-fee quote setting out costs, scope of the service and timing. Have a read through it, and if you’re happy with the scope, you can accept and sign our engagement letter online – easy!

Once you’ve formally accepted, we’ll connect you with one of our lawyers and they will work with you to complete your project over email, phone and/or video chat – whatever you’d prefer