Trade mark transactions and management

What is a trade mark?

A trade mark’s essential function is to be a badge of origin. It distinguishes the goods and services of one undertaking from those of other undertakings. Trade marks are often in the form of words, slogans or logos, but may also comprise items including sounds, three-dimensional symbols, smells, colours, multimedia clips, patterns and holograms. However, in order to fulfil their function, they need to fulfil a range of criteria as set out below.

It is possible to rely on both registered and unregistered trade mark protection in the UK.

Trade mark legislation in the UK

The law relating to UK trade mark registrations is set out in the Trade Marks Act 1994 (TMA 1994).

TMA 1994 implemented Directive (EU) 2015/2436 into UK law (and previously, its predecessors, Directive 89/104/EEC and Directive 2008/95/EC).

The amendments to TMA 1994 to implement Directive (EU) 2015/2436 into UK law were introduced via the Trade Marks Regulations 2018, SI 2018/825, from 14 January 2019.

The Trade Marks (Amendment etc) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, SI 2019/269 and the Designs and

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