The trademark law in UK is guided by the Trade Marks Act, 1994, The Trade Marks Regulations 2018. The relevant authorities governing the trademark in UK are UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO), The High Court of England and Wales, The Court of Session in Scotland and The High Court of Northern Ireland. UKIPO uses NICE classification which groups the goods and services into 45 classes. Goods are in Classes 1 to 34 and Services in Classes 35 to 45.
Application for the registration of the mark.
Section 32 of the act talks about the “Application for Registration” wherein in order to get a trademark registered an application in that respect shall be made to the registrar containing details such as the name and address of the applicant, statement of the goods or services sought to be registered, and a representation of the trade mark. The application shall state that the trade mark is being used in relation to those goods or services, or that he has a bona fide intention that it should be so used. Further the prescribed fees must be paid. The application for the registration must be submitted to the UKIPO. The maximum size file that can be uploaded in UKIPO is 20 MB. Audio files for sound marks must be less than 2 MB. Maximum 20 MB video file can be uploaded for motion marks.
What can be Registered?
Words, Sounds, motions , logos, colurs and combination of these.
Prescribed Fees:
Standard fee for one class is 170 Pounds and addition 50 Pounds is charged per addition of class when application is filed online. Standard fees to register a mark offline are 200 Pounds. To register an international registration fees is 40 Pounds plus WIPO fees.
Date of Filing.
The date of filing of an application for registration of a trade mark is the date on which documents containing everything required by section 32 are furnished to the registrar by the applicant. The day the last of the documents is filed will be the date of filing.
Registration Procedure (Section 37 to 41)
Ones the application is submitted to the registrar, the process of registration of trademark begins.
Examination of application by registrar is done within 2 weeks and if it appears to the registrar that the requirements for registration are not met he shall give an opportunity to the applicant to amend his application within the period mentioned by the registrar. Failure to amend application on time or respond in time within the period to amend granted by the registrar or meet all the requirements of trademark will render registrar to refuse to accept the application. If all requirements are met by the applicant only then the registrar shall accept the application.
Publication, opposition proceedings and observations.
Once the acceptance of application is made by the registrar the next step is publication of the application for the registration of the trademark. Any person may give notice of opposition to the registrar within the prescribed time of two months from the date of the publication of the application. The notice shall be given in writing in the prescribed manner, and shall include a statement of the grounds of opposition. Where an application has been published, any person may, at any time before the registration of the trade mark, make observations in writing to the registrar as to whether the trade mark should be registered; and the registrar shall inform the applicant of any such observations. A person who makes observations does not thereby become a party to the proceedings on the application.
Registration.
If no opposition is filed or all the opposition pleadings are withdrawn in the favour of the applicant the registrar shall register the trade mark. A trade mark shall be registered as of the date of filing of the application for registration; and that date shall be deemed to be the date of registration. On the registration of a trade mark the registrar shall publish the registration in the prescribed manner and issue to the applicant a certificate of registration.
Time taken in registration of trademark
If the mark is not objected and opposed the registration will be done in three months from date of application.
Duration of registration (Section 42)
A trade mark shall be registered for a period of ten years from the date of registration and can be further renewed for another ten years. The renewal fee is 200 Pounds.
Conclusion
To get a mark registered one may file application either online or via post. The minimum amount required to register a trademark is 170 Pounds. The minimum time taken to register a trademark is 3 to 4 months that is when the application is not objected or opposed. Ones you get your mark registered one can take legal action against anyone who uses your brand without your permission, including counterfeiters.
DUCTUS EDGE 