The Intellectual Property Office’s (IPO) new trade mark pre-application tool will “help individuals and businesses improve their chances of successfully registering a trade mark”, the regulator has said.
Launched in October, the pre-application service is aimed at innovators who have “not applied for a trade mark before, and have little or no knowledge of the application process”.
Through the new tool, potential rights holders are able to check if anyone already holds a trade mark similar to the new product or service offering, as well as identify “whether aspects of their proposed trade mark are not appropriate”, such as offensive words or protected symbols.
The service also offers functionality to identify the right groups of goods and services for their proposed trade mark, as well as provide an estimate of their application costs.
The tool does have limitations, however, and is not able to save applications, give legal advice or kickstart the formal trade mark application process. As such, the service should only be used in conjunction with professional legal advice from your intellectual property solicitor.
Commenting on the launch of the service, the IPO said: “The tool is designed around customer feedback and features artificial intelligence (AI) powered checks and searches to produce meaningful, tailored and helpful results.”
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