Searches - Trade marks UK, CTM and worldwide
Trade mark searches are a complex and skilled aspect of trade mark work. One important element in securing ownership of a brand identity is the trade mark search.
There are many different types of trade mark search, and the more extensive the searching, the more time consuming, and therefore the more you reduce the risk of a failed trade mark application.
Why search before using a business name?
You need to ensure you can own and secure your brand equities before you launch a product or service. Clearing a brand for use, is important because if you use someone else’s brand you risk having to recall the product or change your business name after you have already incurred time and expense in branding and marketing.
Product recalls and rebranding might be forced on you years after you have already built up brand recognition. It invariably involves considerable expense. So, it is important to avoid the need for it by having a trade mark search before you are committed to a brand.
Unlike company or domain names where a slight adjustment of spelling enables a desired name to be registered, a trade mark application is unlikely to be successful if it is similar to someone else"s mark.
Basic search
The exact same name search may be good enough for some marks and for certain businesses. Even this search can be time consuming depending on the name and the state of the registers.
For example ZENITH produces as many as 60 hits. on the trademark registers. To work out whether this prevents you using the name ZENITH involves checking whether any of the existing registrations are for competing products and services to yours. Knowledge of the trade mark classification system and an understanding of the level of protection each registration affords are key skills needed to interpret the trade mark search results.
Clearance search
Our clearance search checks the trade mark registers not just for the exact same names but also for similar names. This allows for a certain amount of checking of different spellings of the word.
As there are 27 countries within the EU, and each country has its own trade mark registration system, the EU search does not include a search of each of the individual country registers. We can offer searches of individual country registers on request.
Common law searches
A common law search is advisable if the scale of your operations is such that the consequences of a failed trade mark application would be severe. For example, the costs and inconvenience of withdrawing a product from the market could be so steep for your business, that it makes sense to reduce the risks of a failed application as much as possible. A common law search reduces the possibility of a surprise third party with unregistered trade mark rights objecting to your application during the advertisement stage.
What next?
Find out about Trade Mark registration by following the links on the left.
