Choosing your UK trademark
Trademarks must be distinctive so as to be able to differentiate your goods or service as different from someone else's.
Signs that may not be acceptable are:
- Descriptive. A descriptive sign, such as a sign describing the origin or purpose of your goods or services, may not be registrable.
- Have become customary in trade.
- Not distinctive. In other words, signs that other traders are likely to use are probably not registrable. If you think that your trademark is not distinctive, consider adding in a prominent imaginary word. For example, while the trademark RUNNING SHOES would probably not be distinctive and therefore not registrable, consider applying for the trademark SWIFTY RUNNING SHOES, for example.
- Are specially protected emblems. Examples are Olympic insignia and the like.
- Are offensive.
- Are against the law. For example, signs that promote illegal drugs will probably be rejected during registration.
- Are deceptive. Signs that arguably mislead the public as to the origin or quality of your goods and services will probably not be registrable.
To avoid any possible issues, ensure that your trademark is a distinctive word, logo, picture or other sign that will clearly distinguish your goods or services from those of other traders. Made-up words, logos or pictures are normally considered to be distinctive unless they are commonly used in trade. Note that even non-made-up words may be suitable, if they are used in a unique context, for example.
Note that even trademarks having features such as unusual font, are colored, consist of conjoined words, are misspelled or have .com as a suffix are not necessarily distinctive on account of these features alone.
Last modified:03/10/2013
