Opposition to Registration

When a new flat is proposed on your street, the notice goes up on the compound wall and neighbours get a fixed time to object. A trade mark application works the same way: before a mark is finally entered in the Register, the Registrar publishes it so that anyone with a grievance can speak up. Miss the window and the mark will usually proceed to registration. What are the steps and the deadlines, and who can use them?

In two minutes

Opposition is the post-advertisement stage in which any person may, within four months, give written notice to the Registrar objecting to registration; the applicant answers with a counterstatement within two months, evidence and a hearing follow, and the Registrar decides under s.21 of the Trade Marks Act 1999.

The rest of this chapter

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