How to copyright and trademark a company logo?

After designing an amazing logo for your company, you must copyright it to protect it from using it by other people and companies.

You just need to apply the © symbol to your logo. If anyone uses your logo without your permission then you can take legal action against them.

In most countries, copyright can exist for 50 years for written, dramatic, and creative works and at least 25 years for photographs.

Trademarking your company logo:

1. Register a trademark from the Government website.
2. Check if your logo can be used as a trademark.
3. Check whether your trademark is already registered or not by searching the trademarks database. But another business or individual may already have registered a similar or identical logo.
4. Fill up the online form and provide details of your logo, plus the trademark classes you want to register in (i.e. IT services).
5. Pay the fee.
6. To know whether your application meets the registration rules you have to wait for 4 months for the feedback which will come to your application. It is also known as an examination report.
7. Objections should be addressed. The examiner or another party may raise these issues, which must be rectified within two months before the process can go ahead.
8. When all of your objections are resolved then only you can continue with your application.
9. You will get a notification that the application has been successful and the trademark has been registered.
10. You will get a certificate confirming the registration and
11. Start using the symbol ® with your logo.

How long does it take to trademark a company logo?

The process of registering a trademark takes around 4 months. Your trademark will go onto the official trademarks database only if your application is successful.

Once it is registered, the whole world can see that your brand is trademarked by using the official symbol®. Trademark registration exists for 10 years, after this time you will need to renew it.

How much does a trademark cost?

You will need to pay an initial fee to register a trademark in the UK. For each additional class, a small extra fee will be there when you will be registered with the logo trademark.

If your application is accepted and you want to proceed with the registration, you must pay the full amount within 28 days of getting your examination report.

You will need to pay a fee starting from £270 to register a trademark.