Be aware of genuine use- use it or lose it!

One of your responsibilities as a trade mark owner is to ensure that you are using your trade mark effectively and you are not creating a monopoly over the mark which could be used by someone else.

If you do not use your mark properly in the classes it is registered for and the countries in which it has protection, it will be revoked and put back on the open market for another to use.

If this is a key part of your brand, it could lead to the collapse of your business.

Focusing mainly on EU trade marks, if you have registered an EU mark but only use it in the UK and not in any other member states, it could be argued that it is not necessary for you to have an EU mark. In addition if your mark is registered in 5 classes of goods or services but you only use it in two, your mark could be revoked in the classes you don’t use but could have been working on using in the future.

From the date on which the mark is registered, you have a period of 5 years to show that you are making genuine use of your mark.

‘Genuine’ in this respect means continuing and substantial use, not just use of it once or twice over a 5 year period.

This provision was introduced to prevent businesses registering trade marks for the sake of it and creating unnecessary monopolies over brands they are not using. If this was allowed, at some point there would be no innovative marks left to be registered.

If your mark is deemed to have not had genuine use, it can be fully or partially revoked, meaning it will be removed from register completely or just for certain geographical areas or classes of goods and services.

Ensure you are using your trade marks effectively otherwise you may lose them.

Get in contact with Jane at The Trademarkroom to start a trade mark application

By Ellis Sweetenham