You register a trademark with the Intellectual Property Office, online, choosing the classes of goods or services it covers. It costs a base fee for the first class plus more for each extra one, and takes a few months if nobody objects. What you get is the right to stop other people trading under your name in your sector — which is not what registering a company or buying a domain gives you. This page covers the difference, and how to do it.
At a glance
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Who registers it | The Intellectual Property Office (IPO), online at GOV.UK |
| What it gives you | The right to stop others using your name for the goods or services you registered |
| Registered by | Class — 45 of them, covering different types of goods and services |
| Cost | A base fee for the first class, plus a fee per extra class |
| How long it takes | A few months if unopposed |
| How long it lasts | Renewable in blocks |
| Search it free | GOV.UK's trademark search |
What a trademark actually is, and what it is not
This is where nearly all the confusion sits, so it is worth being slow about.
A registered company name is an entry on the Companies House register. It stops another company registering exactly the same name. It does not stop a sole trader, a partnership or a company with a slightly different registered name from trading under your name on their van, their shopfront and their adverts.
A domain is a rented web address. Holding jamiesplumbing.co.uk means nobody else can have that exact address. It gives you no rights over the words themselves.
A trademark is a legal right to use a name, logo or slogan for particular types of goods or services, and to stop other people using it — or something confusingly similar — for those same things. It is the only one of the three that is genuinely enforceable in that way.
So a business can hold the company registration and the domain and still be required to stop trading under the name, because someone else registered it as a trademark for that sector first. That is the situation this page exists to help you avoid, in both directions.
A trademark can cover the name, a logo, or both. Most small businesses start with the name in plain words, because that protects the words however they are styled — if you register only a logo, someone can use your name in a different typeface.
You do not have to register anything to trade. Unregistered names get some protection in the UK through a legal action called passing off, but it is slow, expensive and depends on proving you had a reputation first. Registration is the cheap, boring alternative.
Classes: trademarks are registered by sector
Trademarks are not owned across the whole world of business. They are registered against classes — a standard list of 45 categories, the first 34 covering physical goods and the rest covering services.
The practical effect is that the same words can be free in one class and taken in another. "Orchid" might be registered for cosmetics and completely available for scaffolding. Two businesses can hold the identical name in different classes for years without either being in the wrong, because customers were never going to confuse them.
That makes choosing your classes the real work of an application. Pick too few and a competitor can operate right next to you. Pick too many and you pay for each one and expose yourself to more objections, since a registration you are not actually using in a class can be challenged after a few years.
Think about what you sell now and the one obvious step you might take next. A florist selling flowers is one class. The same florist selling scented candles and running a retail shop is arguably three. The IPO publishes the class list with search tools and examples, and it is worth an hour with it before you apply.
Search the register first
Search before you spend anything. It is free, it takes minutes, and it is the check that saves people from paying for signs, vans and a website they later have to throw away.
Use GOV.UK's trademark search. Search your exact name, then search variations — different spellings, singular and plural, the name without your town in it, and the words that sound the same when spoken. Then look at which classes any results cover, because a hit in an unrelated class may not affect you at all.
Two things to watch for. First, your application can be refused for being too similar to an existing mark, not just identical, so a near miss deserves proper thought. Second, it can be refused for being too descriptive — you generally cannot register plain descriptive words for what you sell, so "London Plumbing" as a trademark for plumbing is a hard sell in a way that an invented or distinctive name is not.
If you are still choosing between names, do this search on all of them before falling in love with one. Our business name guide covers the other availability checks worth doing at the same time — Companies House, the domain and your social handles.
How to apply, what it costs and how long it takes
You apply online through the IPO on GOV.UK. The application asks for your details, the mark itself — the exact words or the logo image — and the classes, with a short description of the goods or services in each.
The cost is £205 for an online application covering the first class, plus £60 for every additional class. There is also a staged option, called Right Start, where you pay £125 upfront and get an opinion on whether the application is likely to succeed before committing the second £125. For a first-time applicant unsure about their name, that is often the sensible route.
What happens next. An IPO examiner reviews the application and sends an examination report saying whether they see a problem — usually either that the mark is too descriptive or that it clashes with an earlier one. If there are objections you get a period to respond or amend. If it passes, the application is published in the online Trade Marks Journal, where anyone can see it and object.
Total time, start to registered, is a few months when nobody objects. Once registered it runs for a fixed term and can be renewed indefinitely as long as you keep paying. Put the renewal date in the calendar the day it registers.
You can apply yourself. Most straightforward name applications do not need an attorney. If your name is close to an existing one, if you are covering several classes, or if someone has already objected, a trademark attorney is worth the money.
Opposition: the part people do not expect
Publication starts a window in which existing rights holders can oppose your application. Anyone who thinks your mark clashes with theirs can file, and they do not have to be a household name — a small business with an earlier registration in your class has exactly the same right to object.
If an opposition is filed you can negotiate, narrow your classes, or defend it. Many are settled by agreement, often by one side limiting what their registration covers. A defended opposition is where costs stop being small, which is another reason to search properly and choose classes honestly first.
Nothing stops you trading while an application is pending. You simply do not have the registered right yet.
The ™ and ® symbols
™ means you are claiming a name or logo as your trademark. Anyone can use it, registered or not, and it carries no legal force by itself. It is a signal.
® means the mark is registered. Using it on a mark that is not registered in the UK is an offence, so do not put it on your signage while an application is pending. Wait for the certificate.
Neither symbol is compulsory. Plenty of registered businesses never use one.
When it is worth registering, and when it is not
It is worth it when the name is doing the earning. A product brand people ask for by name, anything you sell online where a copycat can appear overnight, a business you might sell or franchise, anything where you will spend real money on advertising the name. If losing the name would cost you customers, protect it — the fee is small against what a rebrand costs in signs, stationery, listings, reviews and search rankings.
It is usually not worth it when the name is a label rather than an asset. A one-person local trade that gets its work from a Google Business Profile, reviews and word of mouth is bought for who does the work, not the words above the door. There the money goes further spent on being found. That is a perfectly respectable answer, and plenty of good businesses never register anything.
The check, though, is not optional either way. Whether or not you register your own, search the register against what you sell before you commit to a name, because trading on someone else's mark is the expensive mistake, not failing to have your own.
Whichever you decide, the look that goes with the name costs you nothing. Create your brand guidelines free with Plan. Answer a few quick questions about the look you want, and Plan puts together your colours, typefaces and a brand guidelines document — free.
What this looks like in practice
Take City Florists, a small flower business selling weekly bouquet subscriptions at £40 a month and fortnightly at £22, with 250 subscribers and a Saturday market stall.
The name is genuinely worth protecting: subscribers renew because of the brand, the business advertises the name online, and a copycat using it would take orders that were meant for them. The founder searches GOV.UK's trademark search and finds nothing conflicting for flowers or florist retail, though there is an unrelated registration for the same words in clothing, which does not matter here.
She applies in two classes: one covering the flowers themselves and one covering the retail and subscription service, paying the base fee plus one extra class fee. The examiner raises no objection, the application is published, the opposition window passes quietly, and the certificate arrives a few months later. She puts the renewal date in her calendar and leaves the ® off her packaging until it lands.
Total cost: two class fees and an hour of her time. What it buys is the ability to make someone stop, rather than watching them and hoping.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to trademark a name in the UK? A base fee for the first class of goods or services, plus a smaller fee for each additional class. A staged option lets you pay part upfront and get an opinion before committing the rest. Using a trademark attorney adds their fees on top, and is worth it for anything complicated.
How long does a UK trademark take? A few months from application to registration when nobody objects. The examiner reports first, then the application is published for a period in which existing rights holders can oppose it. An opposition adds time and cost.
Do I need a trademark if I have registered a company name? No, but they do different jobs. A company name stops another company registering the same name at Companies House. A trademark stops others trading under your name for the goods or services you registered, which is the right that is actually enforceable against a competitor.
Can two businesses have the same trademark? Yes, in different classes. Trademarks are registered by sector, so the same words can be held by a cosmetics brand and a scaffolding firm without conflict, because customers were never going to confuse the two. That is why you search against what you sell, not just the words.
What is the difference between ™ and ®? ™ signals that you are claiming a name or logo as your trademark and anyone may use it, registered or not. ® means the mark is registered, and using it on an unregistered mark is an offence. Wait for the certificate before putting ® on anything.
Figures correct as of September 2026. Tax thresholds, fees and rates change; check the linked GOV.UK pages before acting. Prices and costs shown are indicative and vary by area and by what's included.
What is Plan?
Plan is a free business operating system for people starting or newly running a UK business. It walks you, one simple step at a time, from your elevator pitch through brand, product and pricing, to a complete business plan — then uses everything it now knows about the business to help with the basics: logo and brand, marketing, a website, a bank account, funding, insurance, company registration. You can use as much or as little as you want.
Two ways to do this
Settle the name and the brand yourself, free. Plan walks you through the naming decisions in the order that makes them easy — who it is for, what makes you different, then the name — and creates your brand guidelines around it, colours and typefaces included. It runs in your browser, and you can do just this bit.
Or have the brand built properly. If the name is worth registering, it is usually worth looking right too. Our sister agency The Fractions can design your brand and build the website that goes with it.