Trademarks Overseas trade marks Trade mark searching and watching	The importance of Trade Marks Your company name and logo, and the brand names of your products and services, are important assets of your business. The trade mark registration system allows you to protect them. By registering your name and brands as trade marks, you can stop your competitors trading off your reputation by using the same or similar marks on their goods and services. If you do not register a trade mark: •  a competitor could register a mark similar to yours, and perhaps stop you from using your trade mark. •  a competitor could start using your trade mark on their products or services, and you could be powerless to stop them. •  you might be unable to stop a competitor registering your trade marks as domain names or using your product names on their website. These things can happen even if you’ve registered the mark as a limited company, a domain name and/or a business name. Imagine you’ve spent years building up customer loyalty in one of your brands, and a competitor starts using the same brand. You’d want to know you had strong legal rights to stop them as soon as possible. How we can help We can: •  carry out searches to check whether a trade mark appears to be available for use and registration. •  file applications to register your trade marks in the UK and overseas. •  represent you in dealing with the complex processes before the trade mark registries in the UK and around the world. Where appropriate, we liaise with other professionals including specialist trade mark searchers or specialist attorneys in the UK and/or overseas.