Trademarks and Intellectual Property

Solicitor in Leicester Specialising in Trade Mark Registration and Disputes

I’m Steven Mather Solicitor and I am an expert in Intellectual Property Law, Trade Mark Registration and Trademark Disputes. I’ve featured on BBC Radio Leicester and in the Leicester Mercury as an expert on intellectual property. See my trademark blog here. I have dealt with hundreds of businesses all of which get excellent legal advice on all types of intellectual property matters. Every time Steven strives to provide:

• Plain English Advice
• Time – to understand your situation and all that you’re faced with
• Results – getting the best possible result for you
• Value – fixed fees for your certainty where possible
• Convenience – meetings by phone, video call or in-person at a time to suit you.

What is Intellectual Property?

Intellectual Property encompasses a variety of intangible assets and creations of the human mind, it can be a story, something artistic, a logo or a design. Intellectual Property in the UK usually includes:

1. Copyright – things written, sounds, music, photos etc
2. Trademarks – the names and logos of brands or products
3. Design Rights – the design or look of your products
4. Patents – inventions and how things work

Having your intellectual property registered helps protect you and your business to stop others from using it. 

How do you protect your Intellectual Property?

Copyright and Designs exists automatically and therefore you do not need to register it to have protection. All you need to be able to demonstrate that you wrote whatever it is before the person copying it. There are copyright registration services online, but our advice is simply that they are a waste of money. I can help you with “copyright registration” if you want, just get in touch.

For Trademarks, Designs and Patents, you need to register your intellectual property with the Intellectual Property Office to gain a registration certificate. I can help you with trademark registration and design right registration.

Most of my clients ask me to help with trademark registration, so much so I’m delighted to say that I have direct access to IPO Trademark Information and am genuinely one of few solicitors in Leicester, probably even the East Midlands, who can say they are a genuine expert trademark solicitor.

How do I register a UK Trade Mark?

I help clients register their trademarks, taking away the worry, the hassle and adding significant value. My trade mark registration leicester service is a low fixed fee.

There’s a few steps to trademark registration. Firstly, the trademark needs to comply with the requirements of the Trade Mark Act 1994. We’ll advise you whether it does or not.

Trade Marks can either be in Word form or a Logo Form. For example:

Words – Nike, Addidas, Puma

Logos:

Each is a separate application, and so if your logo includes words, you may wish to register both and to get the best protection.

Every trade mark is registered into classes which are categories of goods or services. Within each class is a list of products or services on which you want protection.

It is crucial that you get protection in the right classes with the right services/products selected. This is because Trademark Law provides protection on infringement as follows:

1. Identical mark used in similar services
2. Similar mark in identical services

If it is a similar mark in similar services, then the law still provides protection, but reputation and unfair advantage also needs to be demonstrated.

If you have a trademark dispute or have suffered trademark infringement, then take a look at our separate page

How much does it cost to register a Trade Mark?

I offer a low-cost fixed-fee trademark registration service.

It’s just £550 plus VAT for my fees.

On top of that, there is a £170 Registration Fee paid to the IPO. This is for one trademark in one class. If you require more classifications (I’ll tell you what my advice is once you instruct me) then for each additional classification there is an addition £50 plus VAT for legal fees and £50 (no vat) for IPO fees.

For other intelllectual property matters, I’d be happy to discuss your needs on a no-obligation call by phone or video, or even just over email or whatsapp. Just get in touch.

Other Intellectual Property Law Services

Along with registration, I help clients with all kinds of Intellectual Property Law documents, including:

• Licence agreements – where you own IP and another party wants to use it
• IP assignments
• Sale of Intellectual Property
• Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure Agreements

Next Steps

If you’re unsure on the question of fees, or on any aspect of Intellectual Property law or business law and need to speak to a solicitor, then call me, Steven Mather.

Just fill in the form on this page, or give us a call to discuss further.