UK Opt-In Service to Cease from 1 October 2012

Since October 2007, it has been possible for owners of CTM registrations to ‘opt-in’ to receive notifications of potentially conflicting, later filed, UK applications when they proceeded to publication for opposition purposes. The ‘opt-in’ subscription cost £50 and lasted for a period of three years.

From 1 October, it will no longer be possible to ‘opt-in’ and notifications will no longer be sent to those trade mark owners who have previously opted in to the service, regardless of whether their subscription term is yet to expire.

In view of the change of practice we recommend that owners of CTM registrations consider subscribing to a suitable trade mark watch service.

D Young & Co can arrange for a cost effective trade mark watch to be set up for our clients on a worldwide, regional or national basis. Watch notices can be sent direct to the client or can be screened by us so that only those for the most pertinent marks are forwarded to you. If you are interested in this service please contact your usual D Young & Co trade mark adviser.

The automatic notification service operated by the UK IPO for owners of UK or IR(UK) registered marks is unaffected by this change.

Useful links

UK IPO notice of change to rules affecting opt-in notification