UK TRADE MARK OPPOSITION
Understand your options before deciding whether to oppose. Nitin Agarwal, Chartered Trade Mark Attorney, can assess the application, your earlier rights and the commercial outcome you want to achieve.
Send the application number, details of your earlier rights and any relevant correspondence. Flag any known publication or filing deadline immediately. An enquiry does not confirm that we can act or that a deadline is being monitored.
WHY TAKE ADVICE?
Opposition is a time-sensitive procedure. Identify the application and relevant dates early so the available steps can be checked.
A similar name alone does not establish that an opposition will succeed. Your rights, the grounds and evidence need assessment.
Consider your objective, evidence and costs before deciding on a course of action. Negotiation may be worth exploring.
WHEN WE CAN HELP
These are illustrative situations, not accounts of completed client matters.
Another business has applied for a similar mark, and you want to know whether it affects your earlier rights.
We can assess your earlier rights, the relevant goods and services, and whether an opposition is an appropriate route for your business.
You want to protect your position while exploring whether an agreement could avoid unnecessary proceedings.
We can discuss a limitation, coexistence or settlement proposal. Any negotiation or drafting work requires a separately agreed scope.
You have received an opposition against your application and need to understand the response required.
This requires a defence assessment and attention to the response date. Our counterstatement service sets out the route for your application.
THE SERVICE
An opposition can involve several stages. We agree which stages we will handle and the fees for them, so that an initial assessment does not become an open-ended instruction.
Identify the application, publication details, correspondence and relevant procedural position.
Consider your earlier rights, the proposed grounds, evidential requirements and material risks within the agreed assessment.
Discuss available routes, commercial objectives, negotiation and potential cost exposure.
Where instructed, prepare the relevant notice and grounds for approval and filing. Any TM7A step must be expressly agreed; it is not itself a formal opposition.
Evidence, submissions, settlement negotiations, hearings and appeals require an expressly agreed scope. We explain further work before you commit to it.
A CLEAR PROCESS
Send the application number, earlier rights, correspondence and any publication or filing dates.
We check availability and conflicts, then agree the assessment, timing and fee before substantive work.
Review the advice on your position, risks and options, then decide whether to oppose or negotiate.
We carry out the agreed work and explain any further stages needing your further instructions.
YOUR ATTORNEY
Nitin Agarwal is a Chartered Trade Mark Attorney and founder of Corpinal IP Limited. He handles the agreed assessment and opposition work directly, with the scope confirmed before instruction.
BEFORE YOU INSTRUCT US
Have a question specific to your brand? Tell us what you are planning.
For defending your own application, see our TM8 counterstatement and defence service. Tell us immediately about any response deadline in the UKIPO correspondence.
The usual UK opposition period is two months from publication. A qualifying TM7A filed in that period can extend the period by one month for the party filing it. Send the application details promptly so the actual position can be checked.
No. It is a notice of threatened opposition. A formal opposition requires the appropriate notice and grounds to be filed within the applicable period.
No. The outcome depends on the grounds, rights, goods and services, evidence and other relevant circumstances. We explain the material risks under the agreed assessment.
A negotiated resolution may be possible. Its suitability depends on both parties and the circumstances. Negotiations do not automatically suspend procedural deadlines.
We set out the professional work, official fees and any separately chargeable stages before instruction. The assessment also considers potential costs exposure. No outcome or costs recovery is guaranteed.
RELATED GUIDANCE
BRAND PROTECTION CHECK
Explore your wider brand protection needs with questions tailored to your business and plans.
No contact details needed to see your results.
YOUR NEXT STEP
Send the application number, your earlier rights and any UKIPO or opponent correspondence. An initial conversation identifies the issue and whether we can assist. Assessment of grounds, prospects and strategy is substantive paid work, agreed before it begins.
If a deadline is close, telephone us as well as sending the details. Do not assume that an enquiry means we have accepted instructions or responsibility for a deadline.