As of 1st October 2007, the responsibility for protecting Trade Marks and in particular applications against Marks that are identical or substantially similar will shift from the UK Intellectual Property Office to the Trade Mark owner.
In a nutshell, the UK Intellectual Property Office used to be responsible for examining Trade Marks and would refuse a new Trade Mark application on the grounds that it might pose a commercial conflict with an existing Trade Mark. However, they will no longer delve into whether there is an overlap between a new Trade Mark application and someone else's Trade Mark.
In intellectual property terms, this represents a dramatic dilution of the power behind the UK Intellectual Trade Mark Office to protect Trade Marks. From now on, Trade Mark owners who want to prevent someone else from registering a similar Mark will have to take active steps to be more vigilant and more proactive in watching out for similar Marks and lodging Oppositions against such applications.
In order to cope with these changes, Hamlins already has in place a Trade Mark Watching Service for monitoring Trade Marks and new applications in order to ensure that no-one else tries to register a Mark that is similar or identical to your Trade Mark.
We use sophisticated computer programming equipment that searches for all relevant applications. The results are then reviewed by our Trade Mark team to identify those applications that might adversely effect the rights that you have in your registered Mark. If you are interested in setting up a Watching Service then please do contact Naazneen Schmittzehe on nschmittzehe@hamlins.co.uk or 020 7355 6045 and we will be able to discuss all the options with you before incurring any costs.