Trade marks · 6 min read · 23 October 2026

UKIPO trade mark search: how to search the UK register before you file

Run your UKIPO trade mark search on the Intellectual Property Office's Search for a trade mark service, but do not stop at an exact match. The earlier marks that can block you include UK applications and registrations, the comparable UK marks created from EU trade marks on 1 January 2021, and international registrations protected in the UK, and any of them can stop you if it is similar enough and covers similar goods or services. The Office will not refuse your application because of an earlier mark: it tells you and the earlier owner, and the owner decides whether to oppose.

Where to run a UKIPO trade mark search

Start with the Intellectual Property Office's Search for a trade mark service. GOV.UK's guidance on what to do before you apply says to use it to check whether your mark is the same as, or similar to, any registered trade marks. Search the word element of your mark, then its distinctive part on its own, then obvious misspellings and words that sound the same, because an exact match search answers a narrower question than the law asks. The UK register also holds the comparable UK marks created from EU trade marks on 1 January 2021: those numbers begin UK009, those created from international registrations designating the EU begin UK008, and GOV.UK guidance says they can be found on the same service.

When you apply, the Office runs its own search during examination. Its examination guide says that search covers earlier marks registered or applied for that have protection in the UK. Your own search should aim to find what the Office will find, before you have paid the fee.

Which earlier marks count on the UK trade mark register

An earlier trade mark is defined by section 6 of the Trade Marks Act 1994. It includes a UK registered mark or international trade mark (UK) with an earlier application date (section 6(1)(a)), comparable marks derived from EU registrations (section 6(1)(aa)), marks entitled to protection as well known marks under the Paris Convention even if unregistered (section 6(1)(c)), and applications that would qualify once registered (section 6(2)). A pending application filed a week before yours is as much of a problem as a registration.

How to read what the search returns

For every mark that looks close, open its full record rather than relying on the results list, and check four things: whether it is still live, the exact goods and services in its specification, its filing or priority date against yours, and who owns it. Status, in particular, should come from the record itself on the day you decide, because an application can move from pending to registered, opposed or withdrawn between searches.

Age matters too. Where an opponent relies on a registration that completed its registration procedure more than five years before your filing date, its notice of opposition must say whether the mark has been put to genuine use (rule 17(5)(d) of the Trade Marks Rules 2008), and a mark not put to genuine use within the five years following registration can be revoked (section 46(1)(a)). An old registration that blocks your name on paper may not survive a challenge; our guide to non use revocation explains how that works.

Why an identical search is not enough

Section 5(1) only stops an identical mark for identical goods or services. The test that catches most applicants is section 5(2): a mark identical or similar to an earlier mark, for identical or similar goods or services, where "there exists a likelihood of confusion on the part of the public, which includes the likelihood of association with the earlier trade mark". Section 5(3) protects a mark with a reputation in the UK against unfair advantage or detriment, and section 5(3A) applies that protection whether or not the goods are similar.

Classes do not settle the question either. The Nice Classification divides all goods and services into 45 classes (Multi-Access Ltd v Guangzhou Wong Lo Kat Great Health Business Development Co Ltd [2019] EWHC 3357 (Ch)), but section 60A says goods and services are not similar just because they share a class, and not dissimilar just because they do not. A search filtered to your own class can miss the conflict that matters. Our guide to trade mark classes explains how to choose them.

What happens if your search misses something

The Office does not refuse an application because of an earlier mark. Article 2 of the Trade Marks (Relative Grounds) Order 2007 says the registrar shall not refuse on a section 5 ground unless the owner of the earlier mark or right objects in opposition proceedings. Instead the Office searches during examination (article 4), and where the search shows a conflict, rule 14 of the Trade Marks Rules 2008 requires it to notify both you and the owner of the earlier registered mark or international trade mark (UK), unless that owner has asked not to be notified.

Once your application is published, anyone can oppose within two months, or three months if they file Form TM7A to extend before the two months run out (rule 17(2) and (3)). A weak search therefore costs more than the filing fee: it can cost an opposition you then have to defend, and if you have already printed packaging or launched, a rebrand. If an opposition has already arrived, read what to do after a TM7.

What the register will never show you

• Unregistered rights. A business that has traded under a name can oppose on the basis of passing off if its rights were acquired before your filing date (section 5(4)(a) and (4A)).
• Newer EU marks. Comparable UK marks were created only for marks registered as EU trade marks immediately before IP completion day (paragraph 1 of Schedule 2A). An EU registration obtained later has no UK counterpart, though its owner may still be trading here.
• Company and domain names. A company name or domain name is not on the trade mark register, but the business behind it may have built goodwill under that name.

When to get a professional clearance search

Your own register check is the right first step. A professional clearance search is worth it when the name is the brand you will spend money on, when your own search turns up anything similar in a related field, or when you plan to file abroad, because an international application built on a weak UK base inherits its risk (see the Madrid Protocol explained). A clearance search reads the results the way an examiner and an opponent would, across similar marks and related goods, and says in writing whether to file, change the mark or narrow the specification.

What it costs

The Office's fee for an online application is £205 for one class and £60 for each additional class, under the Schedule to the Trade Marks (Fees) Rules 2008 as amended from 1 April 2026. GOV.UK also describes a Right Start application at £125, where the Office checks your application before you pay the full fee. Our UK filing is from £555 for one class with the official fee included, covering a conflict search, the specification drafted, filing within 48 hours, standard objection responses and the certificate. A standalone conflict search, with a written view, is £150 per mark or variation searched, credited in full against the filing fee if you instruct within 30 days.