Find out if your name is free before you invest in it

You can run a free first search in TMview, the database that brings together the registers of OSIM, EUIPO and other national offices, or in the WIPO Global Brand Database. If you find exactly the same name in your class, you have your answer. Similar marks, ones that sound alike or mean the same thing, are harder to judge. That's where analysis by someone who handles oppositions every day helps.

You get a written opinion listing the earlier marks that could cause trouble, the estimated risk for each, and our recommendation: file as is, adjust the list of goods, change the mark type or pick another name. How many countries and classes the search covers is something we agree together at the free consultation, based on your plans.

It depends on how similar the signs are and whether the goods or services overlap. The same name can coexist in unrelated classes, for example for cosmetics and for transport services. Sometimes the answer is a narrower list of goods or a coexistence agreement with the owner of the earlier mark. Our written opinion tells you which route makes sense for you.

OSIM's examination looks at absolute grounds for refusal, such as a name being descriptive or misleading. It doesn't raise other owners' earlier marks on its own. Those only surface through an opposition after the application is published, when the fees are already paid. A search shows you that risk before filing, while you can still change the name at no cost.

It depends on the number of countries and Nice classes, and on how common the name is. A search for Romania and the EU in a few classes is quicker than one covering ten countries. We confirm the exact turnaround once we have the details of the mark, before we start work.