Reasons to Register your Trade Mark… You can register your trade mark in more than one jurisdiction

Before making an application for a registered trade mark you will need to decide where you need to apply for a registration. Trade marks are jurisdictional and therefore a registration will only cover the area in which you have applied so if you have a UK trade mark and someone is using the same mark elsewhere in the world you are not entitled to enforce your trade mark against them.

The most commonly used approach for UK based businesses is to either apply to the UK Intellectual Property Office for a UK registered trade mark or to apply to the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) in Alicante for a European Community Trade Mark (“CTM”) . A CTM covers all 27 member states of the EU and therefore provides you with a larger net of protection than a UK trade mark. You will need to discuss with your solicitor at Waterfront which is the best option for your business as you will need to make use of your trade mark within the jurisdictions in which it is registered (in the UK (for UK registrations) and possibly in more that one of the other European Member States if you opt for a CTM through OHIM).

If your business trades outside of the EU then you may wish to consider applications in the jurisdictions in which your business operates. Each jurisdiction across the world has its own Intellectual Property office and fee regimes. However, it is also possible to apply to the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) for numerous jurisdictions at one time.

Deciding where to apply along with the drafting of the application may not be something you feel comfortable doing yourself, we at Waterfront are happy to help and will give you a quote for our fees for making the application for you.