How to register a trade mark in the UK: what it costs and what it protects

Most owners believe they own their business name because they registered a company at Companies House, bought the domain, and have been trading under it for years. Two of those three things give you almost no protection against someone else using the same name, and the third gives you a right that is real but expensive and uncertain to enforce.

A registered trade mark is the cheap version of that right. It is also the one legal step a small business can complete itself in an afternoon, and the fees changed on 1 April 2026 for the first time since 1998.

A company name is not a trade mark

Registering a company only stops someone registering another company with a confusingly similar name at Companies House. It does not stop a sole trader, a partnership, an overseas business or a company in a different name from trading under your brand.

Trading under a name for years does build up unregistered rights, and you can enforce them through a passing off claim. But passing off requires you to prove goodwill, misrepresentation and damage — three evidential burdens, each expensive. A registered mark replaces all of that with a certificate and a register entry.

The practical difference shows up in the ordinary situations, not the courtroom ones. Amazon and Etsy brand protection programmes, social media impersonation takedowns, domain disputes and marketplace counterfeit reporting are all built around registered rights. Without one, you are usually asking for a favour.

Classes: the part everyone gets wrong

Trade marks are registered for specified goods and services, grouped into 45 classes. Your protection only extends as far as the classes you register in, and to similar goods and services.

This is where self-filed applications go wrong. A coffee roastery registering only class 30 for coffee has no protection when a café chain opens under the same name, because café services sit in class 43. A software business registering class 9 for downloadable software may need class 42 for software as a service.

Spend real time on this. The Intellectual Property Office publishes a searchable classification tool, and the free text you write matters as much as the class number — a specification that is too narrow leaves gaps, and one that is absurdly broad invites opposition and can be attacked later for non-use if you have not used the mark on those goods within five years.

Registering the wrong classes is worse than not registering, because it buys you a certificate and the confidence that goes with it.

The search you must do first

Before spending anything, search the register. The IPO's trade mark search is free and covers UK and international marks with effect in the UK. Search your exact name, obvious misspellings, and phonetically similar words in your classes.

Then search outside the register: Companies House, domain availability, social handles, and a plain web search. An earlier unregistered user with genuine goodwill can oppose your application or continue trading regardless of your registration.

If you find something close, take advice before filing rather than after. An opposition costs far more than the application, and the worst outcome is discovering a conflict after you have printed the signage, the vans and the packaging.

What it actually costs

The fees rose on 1 April 2026, the first trade mark increase in nearly three decades.

Filing online costs £205 for the first class and £60 for each additional class. On paper it is £250. So a two-class application, which is what a lot of small businesses need, is £265 online.

The Right Start service splits the payment: £125 plus £30 per additional class to file and get an examination report, then the same again if you choose to proceed after seeing the objections. It costs slightly more overall and is useful when you are genuinely unsure whether the mark will get through.

Renewal is every ten years, at £245 for the first class and £60 for each additional class. So a two-class mark held for twenty years costs £265 to file plus one £305 renewal at year ten: £570 in official fees, under £30 a year for the exclusive right to your own name.

Using a trade mark attorney adds several hundred pounds, and is money well spent where the mark is descriptive, the classes are complex, or the brand is the main asset of the business.

The four-month timeline

An unopposed application takes about four months from filing to certificate.

Examination happens within roughly two weeks. The IPO checks whether the mark is registrable — descriptive terms, generic words and marks that simply describe the goods are refused — and issues a report. If there are objections you have two months to respond.

Once accepted, the mark is published in the Trade Marks Journal for a two-month opposition window, which a third party can extend to three months. The IPO also notifies owners of earlier similar marks that your application exists, which is why the pre-filing search matters so much.

If nobody opposes, the mark registers and the certificate arrives. If someone does, a contested opposition commonly runs nine to eighteen months and costs multiples of the filing fee. Protection, once granted, runs from the original filing date.

What registration actually gets you

Four concrete things. The right to use the ® symbol, which is a criminal offence to display on an unregistered mark. The ability to bring an infringement claim without proving goodwill or damage first. Access to the takedown and brand-protection processes that platforms operate. And an asset that appears on the balance sheet of any sale, licensing deal or investment round — buyers and investors ask about registered intellectual property early, as anyone who has been through what investors look for will recognise.

It also has to be used. A registered mark can be revoked if it has not been genuinely used for the registered goods or services within five years of registration, so keep dated evidence of use — invoices, packaging, screenshots — filed somewhere you can find it.

When to do it

Before you spend money on the name, not after. The cost of registering is a fraction of the cost of rebranding, and the sequence that hurts is the common one: trade for five years, build genuine reputation, then receive a letter from someone who registered the mark you have been using. The trade mark letter that arrives five years in is that story from the receiving end.

If money is tight, register the single class that covers your core trade now and add classes later as the business widens. Partial protection obtained today beats complete protection you keep meaning to sort out.

Common questions

How much does it cost to register a trade mark in the UK?

From 1 April 2026, filing online costs £205 for the first class and £60 for each additional class, so a typical two-class application is £265. Paper applications cost £250 for the first class. The Right Start option splits the cost into £125 plus £30 per extra class to file and receive the examination report, then the same again to proceed. Renewal is due every ten years at £245 for the first class plus £60 per additional class. These were the first trade mark fee increases in nearly thirty years. A trade mark attorney typically adds several hundred pounds in professional fees, which is worthwhile for complex or descriptive marks.

Do I need a trade mark if I have registered my company name?

They protect different things. A company registration only prevents another company being registered at Companies House with a confusingly similar name. It does not stop a sole trader, partnership, overseas business or any differently named company from trading under your brand, and it gives you no straightforward route to force them to stop. A registered trade mark gives you an exclusive right in the goods and services you registered for, an infringement claim that does not require proving goodwill and damage first, and access to the brand protection processes that online marketplaces and social platforms operate. Most small businesses need both.

How long does a UK trade mark application take?

About four months from filing to registration if nobody objects. Examination happens within roughly two weeks, and if the examiner raises objections you have two months to respond. Once accepted, the application is published in the Trade Marks Journal for a two-month opposition period, which a third party can extend to three months by filing the relevant form. Owners of earlier similar marks are notified that your application exists. If an opposition is filed and contested, the timetable typically stretches to somewhere between nine and eighteen months. Protection, once granted, dates back to your original filing date.

What happens if someone opposes my trade mark application?

You receive notice of the opposition and a deadline to file a counterstatement, and the case moves into a written procedure at the Intellectual Property Office with evidence rounds and, sometimes, a hearing. Contested oppositions commonly run nine to eighteen months and cost considerably more than the application fee, and the losing side can be ordered to contribute to the other's costs under a published scale. Many oppositions settle instead, often by narrowing the specification so the two marks cover different goods or services, or through a coexistence agreement. This is the point at which professional representation stops being optional.