02 Jun, 2021 10:13 AM
Admin Category: Business Advice, Company Formation,

Trademarking a Company: Know From The Start

Trademarking your company provides you essential legal protection by securing your business’s name and your customers from your competitors. So, knowing how to register for a trademark to protect your business’s name and brand in the UK is a vital step in securing your business.

Registering a trademark is one of the most effective and efficient ways you can protect your business’s name, brand, and work. Regarding intellectual property protection, there’s not much that can beat registering a trademark correctly. Many new business owners struggle with the process on the intellectual property office website in the UK and mostly end up turning to a solicitor for simple applications that they can get done by themselves.

For the start, you need to know that registering a company name means that other businesses can’t register the same or a very similar name at Companies House. That means if you get this process done right at the start, you get to be less stressed from the start. 

Before starting the process of registering, you need to get familiar with certain rules and this blog is intended to help you with that. 

Step 1: Distinguish Your Company Name vs Trading Name

It is important to understand that your company name and trading name aren’t the same things. You can establish your company’s name officially and it will confirm your existence, but it will not legally stop someone from using your branding without permission. If you want to stop such hindrances from happening, you need to get your company registered for a trademark. 

Step 2: Checking and Learning If Your Trademark Already Taken or Not

In this second simple step, before rushing into anything, you need to make sure that the name you have come up with is not already trademarked. For this, you can check by using the Intellectual Property Office (IPO)’s trademark search.

Note: Do not get confused by assuming that any trademark infringement would have been flagged when your registered your company. Companies House and the IPO are both different departments with unlinked databases.

Step 3: Get Familiar with the Costing

If you have come up with your verified name, now you need to pay attention to the costing, the standard online trademark registration rate is £170.

For the process, you will need to pick which trademark classes (which describe the nature of your business) apply to your company, where there are 45 of these classes to choose from. You will be cost additionally based on how much more of them you want your trademark to apply to. Each class you add will cost an extra £50.

Step 4: Learn the Difference Between- Trademark, Copyright, and Patent

The term intellectual property (IP) refers to a variety of different types of legal rights. It can be quite confusing for business owners to know what IP rights they have, or what rights they should be seeking. So here are the key differences:

  1. Trademarks  are elements of branding;
  2. Patents  protect inventions;
  3. Copyright  protects original expression; and
  4. Design law protects the appearance of products.

How Can Taj Accountants Help You?

Taj Accountants is multi-award-winning specialist Small Accountants in East London who offer a wide range of accounting and taxation advice to sole traders, limited companies, or partnerships. Our services also include sharing knowledge and financial information through our blog and articles. Whether you are looking for financial news, updated policies and procedures or simply looking for manageable account support, you can always rely on Taj Accountants. Above everything, we understand your concern regarding cost efficiency, so we never charge extra for the basics and we always try our best to comply with your queries. 

FAQs: 

How much does it cost to trademark a company name in the UK?

Costs of trademarking a name:

Applying online to register a trademark is the cheapest option. It costs £170 to register online for a single class, with each additional class priced at £50. Applying by post costs £200 to register for a single class and £50 for each additional class.

How long do Trademarks last in the UK?

Trademarks must be renewed every 10 years. You can renew a trademark in the 6 months before it expires and up to 6 months afterward. You cannot renew online if your trademark expired more than 6 months ago.

DISCLAIMER: The purpose of the blog is to provide information and insight regarding the situation. The readers must contact experts before making any decisions based on the information. We highly appreciate you contacting Taj Accountants for further assistance.

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