Guidance

Objecting to other peoples trade marks and the legal costs

How to object and challenge someone else's trade mark and details of any legal costs involved.

From:
Intellectual Property Office
Published
19 May 2014
Last updated
5 October 2015 — See all updates

Overview

When we accept a trade mark application we advertise it in our on-line journal. There is then a 2 month period (extendable to three months) in which parties may oppose its registration.

There are 2 ways in which you can object to a mark;

  1. Third party observations (non legal action)
  2. Opposing a trade mark (legal action)

Third party observations

At any point after we have accepted and published an application for registration, and before it is actually registered, anyone can make what we call ‘third party observations’.

You can tell us if you think that we accepted the application in error. You must bring to our attention any relevant facts of which we may not have been aware at the time we accepted the application.

Making a third party observation is not a formal legal action, and we are not bound to act on observations. We may rely on evidence given in an observation to support a later objection to the application.

We send a copy of all third party observations to the applicant. This is required by rule 22 of the Trade Mark Rules 2008. Observations are also open to inspection by the public once a trade mark has been published.

Please note: We will not act on third party observations based on Relative grounds (earlier marks); however we are still obliged to send a copy of these to the applicant.

Everything you include in the observations will be public, including any personal information. For example, observations embedded in an email will include email addresses. To avoid disclosure of your personal information, you must submit your observations anonymously. You can do this by omitting all contact details, such as your name and address, and submitting your observations by post. Alternatively, you may want to submit your observations as an attachment to an email with all personal data removed.

There are several ways to file third party observations with us:

File by email to: [email protected]

File by post

You can send your documents to us by post or courier to:

Intellectual Property Office
Concept House,
Cardiff Road,
Newport,
South Wales,
NP10 8QQ,
United Kingdom

Opposing a published trade mark

Opposition is the legal procedure that allows you to try to stop a published mark going on to become registered. You can oppose the entire application, or only some of the goods or services it covers.

Opposing under absolute or relative grounds

Absolute grounds cover defects in the trade mark itself. The most common reasons for opposing a trade mark application is that:

  • the trade mark is descriptive of the goods and/or services
  • that it is generic for those goods/services
  • it’s non-distinctive and should be free for everyone in that line of trade to use

Relative grounds means that there exists an earlier trade mark or earlier right (which does not have to be registered) owned by the opponent with which the applicant’s trade mark would conflict if it were used.

Anyone can oppose an application on absolute grounds but only the proprietor of an earlier trade mark or earlier right may oppose on relative grounds.

Filing an opposition

There is an initial 2 month opposition period which begins immediately after the date the trade mark is advertised in the trade marks journal. You can extended this period by a further 1 month by filing an electronic form TM7a ‘Notice of threatened opposition’ within the initial 2 months, beginning immediately after the advert date. The TM7a can only be submitted on-line and there is no fee payable with this form.

For example, a trade mark advertised in the journal on 11 April 2013 would have a latest date of 11 June 2013 by which to file an opposition on a form TM7, or request an extension of the opposition period on a form TM7a.

Filing a TM7a does not commit you to opposing the application, but you should not file one unless you are seriously considering doing so.

If you want to oppose the registration of the trade mark without any extension of the time period allowed, then you can file a TM7 ‘Notice of opposition’ with the appropriate fee. The time during which the TM7 must be filed is 2 months beginning immediately after the date on which the application was published.

Any TM7 filed during the extended third month by parties other than those who have already submitted a TM7a will be refunded.

Further guidance on opposition is available.

Opposing using the fast track procedure

Any person who wishes to lodge a fast track opposition should file a notice of opposition using the form TM7F.

Contact the applicant

You should contact the applicant in writing, and tell them why you are thinking of opposing their application. You can get their address (described as an ‘address for service’) by searching the applicant’s details on the IPO website.

It helps everyone if you can settle your differences in a friendly way rather than starting formal opposition proceedings. We offer a mediation service at the IPO which can help you do this. Mediation is quicker and easier than going through the formal opposition process.

No costs will normally be awarded to successful opponents if they don’t give the applicant a chance to withdraw their application before filing the opposition, and the opposition goes undefended.

Opposition cooling-off period

A cooling-off period is extra time allowed for both sides in opposition proceedings to try to settle their differences without the need to go through the full legal procedure.

Cooling-off is only available in opposition proceedings.

This means that when we send the applicant the notice of opposition the parties have nine months to try and negotiate a resolution to the dispute before entering the adversarial stage of proceedings. The parties must agree to cooling-off and file a form TM9C during the two months allowed for the applicant to file their notice of defence. Either party can request an extension to the initial nine months cooling-off period by submitting a form TM9E. This will extend the cooling-off period by a further nine months to a maximum period of eighteen months. The request must include a statement confirming that the parties are seeking to negotiate a settlement to the opposition proceedings.

If the parties do not agree to cooling-off then the opposition proceedings continue as normal with the applicant filing their defence.

Cost awards in proceedings before us are contributory, not compensatory.

This means that the cost award is not going to cover all the costs of the proceedings. It will only provide a contribution towards the costs of the ‘winning’ party.

We use a published scale of costs and have discretion to determine the level of the award.

The costs awarded in Fast Track Oppositions are capped at £600 (excluding official fees). Further information can be found at Tribunal Practice Notice 1/2023 below.

For further information on cost awards in proceedings please see:

If you decide to withdraw your application after we have received an opposition you will have to pay costs to the opponent. But, if you have demonstrated that proceedings were launched against you with no warning, giving you no chance to negotiate or reach a compromise without legal proceedings then there will be no award of costs issued against you.

If you decide to defend your application against the opposition and lose the case, you will be required to pay costs to the opponent.

If you are successful in defending your application you are unlikely to recover all your costs as any award we make is normally based on a set scale.

Opposing a registered trade mark

Once a trade mark has been registered there are several different forms of legal action you can take to challenge it.

Invalidation

Invalidation is the legal procedure, which allows anyone to try and remove a trade mark from our register as if it had never been registered. You can apply to remove the entire registration, or only some of the goods or services that it covers. You will need to send us a form TM26(I).

Further guidance on invalidation is available.

Revocation

Revocation is the legal procedure that allows anyone to try and remove a trade mark from the UK register. You can apply to remove the entire registration, or only some of the goods or services that it covers.

Usually, you would apply to revoke a trade mark on the grounds of non-use, but there are other grounds for revocation. You will need to send us a:

  • form TM26(N) ‘Application to revoke a registration or a protected international trade mark (UK) for reasons of non-use’ and statement of grounds
  • form TM26(O) ‘Application to revoke a registration or a protected international trade mark (UK) for reasons other than non-use’ and statement of grounds

Further guidance on revocation is available.

Rectification

Rectification is the legal procedure which allows anyone to apply to correct (or rectify) an error or an omission that has been made in the recorded details of a registered trade mark. You will need to send us a form TM26(R)

Further guidance on rectification is available.

Intervention

Anyone, other than the proprietor, who claims to have an interest in a registered trade mark may apply to become involved (in legal words ‘intervene’) in post registration legal actions. You will need to send us a form TM27.

A person with an interest in a registered trade mark may be:

  • a subsidiary or related company of the proprietor or licensee of the proprietor who uses the mark itself
  • a new owner of the trade mark who has not yet recorded their ownership in the register

Monitoring trade marks using eAlerts

You can track a trade mark application or registration and receive email notifications about specific events by registering for eAlerts. Find the trade mark you want to track by using our online search services.

Professional advice

Legal professionals who specialise in Intellectual Property (IP) are useful in helping you to obtain and defend you IP rights. Details of professionals in your area can be obtained from any of the following organisations:

Mediation

Mediation is a way of resolving disputes without going to court. It is cheaper and quicker than litigation and the outcome is usually beneficial to all parties.

Mediation allows you and the opposing party to talk about the dispute with the help of an independent person, a mediator. The mediator’s role is not to make a decision on the dispute but to help both parties find a solution that they are happy with.

The IPO can mediate face to face and over the telephone. The service can help you resolve trade mark opposition and invalidation proceedings on relative grounds. However there are also other mediation providers, PDF 237KB that can help.

Updates to this page

Published 19 May 2014
Last updated 5 October 2015 + show all updates

  1. Tribunal Practice Notice 2/15 under the heading Legal costs added.

  2. First published.

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