A trademark is used to protect any word, phrase, sign or symbol, design, combination of letters or numbers, or other device that identifies and distinguishes your products and services and allows your customers to tell you apart from your competitors.

You can register a name, logo, slogan, domain name, shape, colour or sound, but a trademark must be:

• Distinctive for the goods and services you provide

• Not deceptive, or contrary to law or morality.

A trademark is denoted by the trademark symbol, which is ™, or alternatively by the registration symbol, which is ®, if an actual registration filing has been approved.

Your trademark does not have to be registered but an unregistered mark will rely on the common law of passing off. If you have a registered trademark, you must renew it every 10 years to keep it in force.

Why trademark?
Trademark law protects you, the owner, from competitors stealing your identity or using a name or symbol so similar that it could cause confusion for your clients or customers. By identifying a product or service’s source, a mark also serves to protect consumers from deception.

What can be trademarked?
Any name or mark can be tademarked, and the more distinctive your business, product or service name, the more likely it will approved for you to trademark.

How do you know what’s available?
You can conduct an online search at the Intellectual Property Office at http://www.ipo.gov.uk. This shows terms and logos that are already trademarked by others; however a comprehensive trademark search is the only way to see if there are variations of your desired name or logo that registered, where a registration was abandoned, in use in a state, or in use as a common law trademark. This is best done by a lawyer so you have a legal opinion on whether you can proceed with your desired name without infringing on anyone else’s mark, and also whether your desired name is a good candidate for a trademark registration.

How long will it take?
A minimum of six months, longer if you don’t do it online, if it gets refused and you appeal, or if there are any queries…

How much will it cost?
At the time of writing it costs £500 to registered a UK trademark for one class orf goods or services; £50 extra for every additional class or country you apply for.

If you want to apply for a trademark go to http://www.ipo.gov.uk