Register your trademark in the markets that matter to you, through one UK based team. No juggling overseas firms.
Trademark rights stop at the border. If you intend to sell or promote your goods and services beyond the UK, your name, logo or tagline needs protecting in each country that matters to you, and there is no single worldwide trademark that does it all in one go. We register trademarks in over 100 countries through one UK based team, so you deal with us, not a dozen overseas firms. As specialists since 2008, with more than 4,170 UK registrations and thousands more across the EU and internationally, we will help you protect your brand in the right markets, in the right way, without paying for protection you do not need.
Free initial review. No obligation. We’ll tell you if you shouldn’t apply.
A single point of contact, start to finish
Specialist trademark experience
4,170+ UK registrations, thousands worldwide
Trusted representatives in every market
On which markets actually matter
A UK trademark protects you in the UK and nowhere else. These are the situations where it is worth looking further afield:
Amazon Brand Registry and most marketplace protections need a registered trademark in that country, not just your UK one.
If a market matters to your revenue, it matters to your brand. Protect it before you build it.
Without local registration, stopping someone trading under your name abroad is far harder and far more expensive.
Where brand hijacking is common, it is wise to register before you ship, not after.
Some countries effectively require local registration before you can trade or enforce your brand at all.
Not sure which markets to prioritise? That is exactly what a short conversation, or our pre-filing research, is for. Start with a worldwide trademark audit to see exactly where you stand.
If you have started looking into international trademarks, you will have come across the Madrid Protocol. It is worth understanding properly, because it is powerful in the right situation and a false economy in the wrong one.
The Madrid Protocol is an international filing system run by the World Intellectual Property Organisation, or WIPO, a United Nations agency based in Geneva. The key thing to understand is that WIPO does not grant trademarks itself. It administers the filing system, but each country you designate still examines your mark under its own law and decides whether to register it.
Instead of filing separate applications in, say, the United States, Australia, the EU and Canada, you file one international application through your home office, usually based on your UK application or registration, and select the countries where you want protection. It currently reaches over 130 countries through the system’s members.
There is a basic WIPO fee of 653 Swiss francs for a mark in black and white, or 903 Swiss francs in colour, and then a separate designation fee for each country you add. So the headline can look low until you add the countries you actually need, at which point it climbs.
Because each office examines locally, the United States, Australia and others apply their own, often stricter, rules on how goods and services are described. When an office raises an objection, you usually need a local representative to respond, and the cost advantage of the central filing starts to disappear. There is also “central attack”: if your home UK application or registration is refused, cancelled or restricted in the first five years, the whole Madrid registration can fall with it across every country. That can become an expensive problem.
Want the full picture? Read our guide: What is the Madrid Protocol, and does it work?
Neither route is automatically better. It depends on how many countries you need, how complex your goods and services are, and how those particular offices behave. Here is how the two compare:
| Factor | Madrid Protocol | Country-by-country |
|---|---|---|
| At filing | One central application, fewer forms, often cheaper to start | Separate applications, more admin, higher cost up front |
| If objections arise | You usually still need a local representative to respond | A local specialist is involved from the start |
| Home dependency | Tied to your UK mark for 5 years (central attack risk) | Each registration stands on its own |
| Specifications | Your wording is examined locally and may be challenged | Drafted to local rules first time |
| Renewals & admin | Can be managed centrally through WIPO | Managed per country |
| Best suited to | Simple marks, straightforward goods, several member countries | Higher-value markets, complex goods, strict offices |
Our honest view: on the surface the Madrid Protocol looks quicker, cheaper and simpler. In our experience, when you want the best chance of success, there is often no substitute for local expertise. We have seen plenty of Madrid applications end up more expensive than filing locally once objections, amendments and the later need for a local representative are added in.
That is why we spent almost two decades building a network of trusted overseas representatives. We coordinate the applications, specifications, responses and renewals while a local specialist handles each jurisdiction, and you keep one UK point of contact throughout. Because we make their work straightforward, you do not usually pay any more than if you approached them directly yourself, and you avoid wasting time shopping around for attorneys in each jurisdiction.
We help businesses protect their brands in over 100 countries. A selection of the markets we are asked about most:
The EU as a single registration (an EU trademark), plus non-EU countries such as the UK, Switzerland, Norway and Turkey.
United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil and across Latin America.
China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Hong Kong.
United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the regional African systems (OAPI and ARIPO).
For Europe specifically, a single EU trademark registration usually makes more sense than filing country by country. If your plans are UK only for now, start with UK trademark registration as the foundation.
From the first call through to renewals, here is exactly how we manage your international registrations:
We talk through your business, where you sell now and where you plan to, and which markets genuinely need protecting. This is also where we tell you honestly if a market can wait.
We confirm your priority countries and check the position in each, including the brand name in non-Latin scripts where relevant.
We recommend the right route for each market, Madrid Protocol or local filing, and explain the cost and the trade-offs before you commit to anything.
We file and manage examination through our network of trusted local representatives, while remaining your single point of contact.
Once registered, we help you keep watch for infringement and stay on top of renewal deadlines in every country.
Protecting your mark after registration matters as much as getting it. See our trademark monitoring service.
People searching for international trademark costs want a number to anchor against, and we understand why. The honest answer is that international costs vary enormously, far more than a UK application, because every country sets its own official fees and its own rules.
So rather than pretend there is one price, here is a real sense of the official government filing fees in the markets we are asked about most. These are the fees the trademark office charges for one class. They do not include our work managing the application, any local representative’s fee, or, in some countries, a separate registration fee paid after the mark is accepted.
| Office / Region | App. fee (1 class) | Approx. £* | Each extra class (approx. £*) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | £205 | £205 | £60 | From 1 Apr 2026 |
| EU (EUIPO) | €850 | ~£725 | €50 2nd / €150 3rd+ (~£43 / £128) | Cheaper 2nd class, then 3rd+ |
| United States (USPTO) | $350 | ~£275 | $350 (~£275) | More if you self-write the goods list |
| China (CNIPA) | RMB 300 | ~£33 | RMB 300 (~£33) | Per class, up to 10 items |
| Japan (JPO) | ¥12,000 | ~£65 | ¥8,600 (~£46) | + reg. fee ~¥32,900/class once accepted |
| South Korea (KIPO) | KRW 62,000 | ~£37 | KRW 62,000 (~£37) | + reg. fee ~KRW 211,000 once accepted |
| Canada (CIPO) | CAD 491 | ~£285 | CAD 149 (~£87) | Per extra class |
| Australia (IP Australia) | AUD 250 | ~£130 | AUD 250 (~£130) | Picklist; more for custom wording |
| India | ₹4,500 / ₹9,000 | ~£43 / £85 | ₹4,500 / ₹9,000 (~£43 / £85) | Lower for individuals & small firms |
| Madrid Protocol (WIPO) | 653 CHF | ~£575 | Varies by country | + designation fee per country added |
* Approximate sterling equivalents for guidance only. Currencies move and official fees change, so we confirm the current figure for your target markets at consultation. Official fees correct as of June 2026.
What this tells you: the official fee in one country can be a tenth of the fee in another, and the cheapest-looking route is not always the cheapest outcome. A failed or badly drafted application abroad is the most expensive kind, because non-refundable official fees, local objections and a possible rebrand all stack up.
Our job is to keep your overall exposure to a minimum while making sure you are actually protected where it counts. We will give you a clear, tailored quote once we understand your target markets, and because of how we work with our local network, you do not usually pay more than going to those firms directly.
Tell us your markets and we will price it properly: speak to an international specialist.
This is where experience earns its keep. The mistakes we see most often:
Your international registration leans on your UK mark for five years. If the UK mark is weak or gets challenged, the whole thing is exposed.
In markets like China, Japan and the Arabic-speaking world, you often need to protect a local-script or phonetic version too, not just your English mark. Choosing the wrong characters can cause real problems later.
Offices such as the USPTO and IP Australia are strict about how goods and services are described. Wording that sails through in the UK can be rejected abroad.
Opposition windows and office-action deadlines run in the local language and local time. Miss one and you can lose the application.
Every one of these is avoidable with the right research and the right local knowledge before you file. That is the whole point of doing it properly.
It varies by country, but as a rough guide, many markets take somewhere between 6 and 18 months if there are no objections. Some are faster, some much slower. We give you a realistic timeline per market at the outset.
There is no single figure, because every country sets its own official fee, from around RMB 300 in China to several hundred pounds in the US, EU or Canada. On top of official fees there is our work and, in some countries, a separate registration fee. We give you a clear, tailored quote once we know your target markets.
Yes. If you file abroad within six months of your UK filing date, you can usually claim that earlier UK date as your priority date. It does not guarantee acceptance, but it can protect you against anyone who files something similar in the meantime.
A rejection in one country does not affect your registrations in the others. With local representation we can usually respond to the objection, amend the specification, or advise whether it is worth pursuing. Sometimes the honest answer is that a particular market is not worth the spend, and we will tell you that.
Trademarks generally renew every ten years, but the detail varies by country. In the United States, for example, you renew every ten years, and you must also file proof that you are genuinely using the mark between the fifth and sixth year, or the registration can be cancelled. In the UK the mark stays on the register, but after five years you can be required to prove use in order to enforce it. The principles are similar from country to country, but the way the rules are applied differs, which is another reason we prefer to use a local expert wherever possible. Country-by-country registrations are renewed in each country, while a Madrid registration can often be renewed centrally through WIPO. We track the deadlines either way, so nothing lapses by accident.
Most major economies are members, but some are not, so they need a direct national filing. Taiwan is not part of the system, and Hong Kong is not covered by mainland China’s membership, so it must be filed separately. Membership changes over time, so we confirm the current position for your specific markets.
The name is a little misleading. WIPO, the World Intellectual Property Organization, is a United Nations agency based in Geneva, not a trademark office, and it cannot grant trademarks. It runs the central Madrid filing system. The national office in each country, such as the USPTO in the United States or IP Australia, is what actually examines and registers your mark under its own law.
For a Madrid application you need a home application or registration to base it on, which for a UK business is usually the UK mark. You can file directly in individual countries without a UK trademark, but for most UK businesses a UK registration first is the sensible foundation, and it opens up the six-month priority window.
International decisions are high-stakes, and the right strategy can save you a great deal of money. Book a free, no-obligation call and speak to an international IP specialist about your target markets. We will give you a straight answer on what is worth protecting, where, and how.
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