Expanding your business: you need to expand your trade mark

By registering your trade mark, you are securing your ability to protect your brand against others who may be looking to take advantage of your succeeding brand.

However, this protection will not be effective if your trade mark has not expanded with your business and it is the newer area in which the problems have arisen.

For example, if your business originated in the UK but you are now also trading in France and there is a trade mark copycat across the Channel who is looking to take advantage of your reputation, your UK trade mark will be of no help to you.

Therefore, one of the first points of contact when you are looking to expand your business is The Trademarkroom.

With our clients in the forefront of our minds, we can offer you sound expert advice on the best course of action for you and your brand moving forward in a business-friendly way. We pride ourselves on the ability to translate the legal jargon to our clients in a way they understand and feel confident proceeding.

There are a number of options available to you in relation to expansion, of which are explained below in brief.

Firstly, you can apply for an EU wide trade mark, with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO).

As it stands, this will allow you to have protection over your mark in the 28 member states of the EU through one application.

This is of course subject to the true effect of Brexit, which at present is unclear. Please see this article from The Trademarkroom’s blog to understand this in more detail: http://www.trademarkroom.com/blog/item/post-article-50-any-ip-clarity

You can base your EU trade mark on your existing UK trade mark or you can file a new and improved version. If you do this, please ensure you have discussed this with The Trademarkroom to ensure that there will be no existing marks which may put a block to your application.

The filing fee for the EU IPO for an application is €850 for first class of goods or services or €1000 if filed on a paper form, which further costs if you want to file in more than one class. The Trademarkroom’s legal fee is £350 plus VAT.

If you are looking for registration a bit further afield, you may want to consider taking advantage of the Madrid Protocol system in which you can make a single application and submit the application in a number of countries at the same time without having to battle through their national system. It is hard to determine a price for this as it is dependent on where you want to register, in how many countries and what exactly you want to register. You can be rest assured, however, that The Trademarkroom will ensure you the best deal with the best advice.

To take action today, get in touch with The Trademarkroom team.

By Ellis Sweetenham