The following case studies are for information purposes only. Please contact us for more detailed and tailored advice.
Case Study 1 – Trade Mark Registration in the UK
Two entrepreneurs have started a publishing company. They intend to publish educational materials for children in the UK, both in print and on-line, using a logo as their main brand. They wish to protect their rights in this logo.
Since their target audience is based in the UK, they decide to go ahead with a UK application. With the help of Clarke Willmott, they decide that they need to apply for their mark in use classes 9, 16 and 41. The cost of their application will be:
Our fixed legal costs: £1,192.00 plus VAT
Official fees (paid to the Registry): £300 (the basic £200 application fee includes one class, and they need to add £50 for each extra class)
Case Study 2 – Trade Mark Portfolio Protection
The shareholders of a specialist food company, Brandingco Limited, seek our advice in relation to selling their company. The company is extremely successful, and its brand and get-up are known in supermarkets throughout the country. In order to consolidate the value of its brand, we conduct an intellectual property audit and advise the company to register trade marks to fill the gaps in its portfolio prior to sale.
The trade marking application strategy is designed to maximise the extent of protection and the success of registration and thus to provide maximum value to any purchaser of the company. The company applies for a total of 25 UK and Community trade marks, and the company is successfully sold for a figure which reflects the increased value of the company.
Our fixed legal costs: £37,478 plus VAT (for 25 applications)
Official fees (paid to the Registries): £30,727 (affected by exchange rate fluctuations)
Case Study 3– Trade Mark Registration in the UK
Our client runs a flower arrangement business for weddings in the UK and wishes to register the name of the business as a UK trade mark.
With the help of Clarke Willmott, our client decides to apply for a trade mark in class 44, and the cost of the application will be as follows:
Our fixed legal costs: £1,050.00 plus VAT
Official fees (paid to the Registry): £200
Case Study 4 – International Trade Mark Registration Strategy
An investment partnership, Epaulette International, has numerous property development ventures around the world and seeks to consolidate these under a single brand. The brand is already fairly well known in Bulgaria and consists of a name and a logo. Epaulette International wants an offshore company to own the intellectual property and to be able to license it to other group companies and third parties in key jurisdictions. The disparate range of property development projects (including hospitals and golf courses) means that Epaulette International is advised to register the two trade marks (i.e. the word and the logo) in nine classes of goods and services.
The jurisdictions central to Epaulette International are Bulgaria, Turkey, the UK, the USA and India. We advise that a Community trade mark will cover Bulgaria and the UK, and will provide a good basis for an International Application designating the USA and Turkey. As India is not a member of the International Application system, we are instead able to provide access to our network of international agents and to liaise with lawyers in India who also offer a fixed fee service.
Our fixed legal costs: £6,852 plus VAT
Official fees and foreign agent fees: £13,855 (affected by exchange rate fluctuations)
Case Study 5– Trade Mark Registration in the European Union
The publishing company which was set up by two entrepreneurs has become very successful very quickly, and it now publishes works in many languages and distributes its goods throughout the European Union under the same logo. It decides that it now needs to protect its rights in its logo in Europe.
Our client wishes to apply for a Community Trade Mark (which provides protection in all 27 Member States) in the same 3 classes as were specified for its UK mark. The cost of its application will be as follows:
Our fixed legal costs: £1,450 plus VAT (for one Community Trade Mark application)Official fees: an initial €900, together with a further €850 upon registration of the mark, total €1750.
