Brand Protection & Intellectual Property

A UK trademark costs from £205 in UKIPO official fees for one class, plus £60 for each additional class (the official fees rose on 1 April 2026), on top of solicitor fees. At Ai Law a UK application is £375 plus VAT for a word or a figurative mark, or £550 for the two combined, plus £50 for each additional class, and an advisory search before you apply is £270 plus VAT. The official fees are paid to the UK Intellectual Property Office; our fee covers getting the strategy and classification right so you do not pay twice for a mark that fails.

A UK trademark usually registers in around four months if no one objects. The UKIPO examines the application within a few weeks, then publishes it for a two-month opposition period during which third parties can challenge it. If there is no opposition or objection, registration follows shortly after. Oppositions can extend the timeline considerably, which is why a proper clearance search at the start matters.

Trademark infringement is breach of a registered right under the Trade Marks Act 1994; passing off protects unregistered goodwill at common law. Infringement is generally easier and cheaper to prove because you point to your registration. Passing off requires you to prove three things: established goodwill, a misrepresentation that confuses the public, and resulting damage. This is why we almost always recommend registering: it turns a difficult evidential battle into a clear property claim.

Do not ignore it and do not reply in anger; get it assessed first. Some letters are well-founded and warrant a quick, cost-controlled resolution; others are overreaching or amount to unjustified threats, which can themselves give you a claim under the Trade Marks Act 1994. We review the letter, tell you whether it has real legal force, and respond on your behalf so you neither concede ground you should keep nor escalate a fight you could have settled.

Yes, though England and Wales has no single image right, so protection is built from several tools. We register your name and signature logo as trademarks under the Trade Marks Act 1994, protect content under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, and use contracts to control commercial use of your likeness. Together these let you license your brand and stop unauthorised merchandise, fake endorsements and content theft.

Start by establishing what right you hold: a registered trademark, copyright in an original logo under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or a registered or unregistered design right. We confirm your rights, gather evidence of the copying, and usually send a cease-and-desist letter first. If that does not resolve it, we pursue an injunction and damages or an account of profits through the courts.

No. Copyright arises automatically under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 the moment an original work is created, with no registration in the UK. What matters is proving you own it and when you made it, so we help you keep dated records and put written assignments in place, particularly where freelancers or agencies created work for you. Without an assignment, the creator, not your business, often owns the copyright.