Benefits of registered trade mark protection
Registering your trade mark gives you the exclusive right to use your mark for the goods and/or services that it covers in the United Kingdom (UK).
If you have a registered trade mark you can put the ® symbol next to it to warn others against using it. However, using this symbol for a trade mark that is not registered is an offence.
A registered trade mark:
- may put people off using your trade mark without your permission
- allows you to take legal action against anyone who uses your trade mark without your permission
- allows Trading Standards Officers or Police to bring criminal charges against counterfeiters if they use your trade mark
- is your property, which means you can sell it, or let other people have a licence that allows them to use it.
What if I do not register my trade mark?
If you do not register your trade mark, you must rely on the common law action of passing off if someone uses your mark without permission.
Passing off actions are extremely expensive. They require large amounts of evidence to persuade the court that the people who would buy the relevant goods or services would associate the trade mark with you and that the other person's goods or services have been mistaken for yours.
Unregistered marks may have rights limited to a confined geographical area, because it is difficult, particularly for smaller companies, to prove that they have a trading reputation throughout the UK . Registering a trade mark can give you protection throughout the UK , even if you do not have a trading presence everywhere.
Further information about trade marks protection is available in the Trade marks area.
