Trade Marks distinguish one company's goods or services from those of its competitors. Every company selling goods or providing a service operates under a name, logo or some other trade mark and almost all companies conduct business under a unique name or trade mark. These trade marks are valuable assets and should be protected by registration.

Common Law Rights
If the trade mark is sufficiently well known, it is protectable to a limited extent under common law. A trade mark registration will supplement existing common law rights if the trade mark is being used and will provide a much faster, more certain and less expensive method of protecting and enforcing the trade mark.

Adopting a Trade Mark
A company which intends to adopt a new trade mark is usually advised to search the records of existing trade marks to ensure that the trade mark is available for use and registration.

Registrable Trade Marks
Not all trade marks can be registered. Some trade marks are so descriptive that they cannot distinguish one company's goods or services and therefore cannot easily be protected.

Protection after registration
Once registered, a trade mark gives its owner the rights to the exclusive use of that trade mark. That right is infringed whenever a competitor uses the same or a confusingly similar trade mark on the goods/services or similar goods/services covered by the registration.

Renewal of Trade Marks
Trade Marks must also be renewed periodically. The initial period of protection is ten years and the renewal period is every ten years thereafter.

Protection in other countries
It is also important to remember that a trade mark registered in the United Kingdom grants protection only in that jurisdiction. If the trade mark is used or intended to be used in other countries, searches should be conducted to ensure that the trade mark is available for use in those countries and if available, applications should be filed to protect the trade mark in those other territories.

TRADE MARKS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION
It is possible to cover the whole of the European Union by a single trade mark application filed at The European Community Trade Marks Office, entitled "Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs)" and officially abbreviated to "OHIM".

INTERNATIONAL REGISTRATION OF TRADE MARKS
The Madrid system of international registration of marks is applicable among the sixty countries party to the Madrid Agreement or Madrid Protocol.

The Madrid Protocol was ratified in United Kingdom on December 1 1995. An international registration gives the trade mark owner the ability to register his/her mark in several countries by filing one application in one single Office, with one set of fees. The European Union is one of the territories which may be designated by an international registration.