A UK trade mark registration will provide you with the exclusive right to use your name in the UK on the categories of products and services for which it is registered for a period of 10 years with the right to renew thereafter. You will be able to prevent others from using your name quickly and cost-effectively. You will protect your business, its goodwill and reputation.

You can also protect your name throughout all of the Member States of the European Union as a Community Trade Mark with just one application. This triggers applications in each of the Member States and aims to give you Pan-European exclusive rights

MACIPO & ASSOCIATES provides a comprehensive trade mark service, and manages the trademark portfolios of many well-known companies. Many of our clients have realised the merits of seeking protection throughout the European Union in a single Community Trade Mark application, and we have extensive experience of this system. We handle numerous trade mark oppositions for both opponents and applicants, seeking effective commercial settlements for the benefit of our clients wherever appropriate.

We continue to file and prosecute UK national trade mark applications, which offer particular benefits including the speed at which registration may be obtained. We also handle international trademark applications (under the fast expanding Madrid Protocol registration system), which offer substantial cost savings and convenience for clients wishing to register a trade mark in multiple countries. We are also able to obtain and advise on overseas national and regional registrations and have an extensive network of foreign trade mark attorneys with whom we engage on such matters.

We are pleased to offer advice on all aspects of trademarks and related rights in the UK, Europe and world-wide, including infringement, passing off (and other common law rights) and licensing, as well as on appropriate choice of marks and their registrability.

We counsel on cost-effective brand portfolio management, use of brands in marketing materials and advertising, and corporate transactions involving brands, including transfers, licenses and mergers and acquisitions. We work with you to identify and challenge conflicting marks and help protect your brands from competitor encroachment.

COMMUNITY TRADE MARK APPLICATION

An application for a Community trade mark may be filed by nationals of the member states; nationals of other states which are parties to the Paris Convention; nationals of states which are not parties to the Paris Convention but who are domiciled or have their seat, or who have a real and effective industrial commercial establishment, within the territory of the European Union; nationals of any state which is not party to the Paris Convention but which accords to nationals of all the member states the same protection for trade marks as it accords to its own nationals.

In order to put an application on file at the Community Trade Mark Office and establish a filing date we need the following:

• Full name, address and nationality of applicant (s);
• Details of the mark (if a device mark or logo, a copy of the mark);
• List of goods and or services for which registration is to be sought;
• Number, country and date of priority application (if applicable).

In due course, to complete the filing requirements we will need:

• Certified copy of priority document and verified translation (if applicable).

The application for a Community Trade Mark must be filed in one of the official languages of the European Union but the applicant must also indicate one of the languages of the Office - English, French, German, Italian and Spanish - as a second language which may be adopted as the language for the conduct of opposition, revocation or invalidity proceedings.