What happens to your trademark after a rebrand? On the day you rebrand, nothing. A registered trademark doesn’t die when the marketing stops. It stays on the register for as long as you keep renewing it, every 10 years. What changes is the clock: once a mark hasn’t been genuinely used for five years in a row, anyone can apply to have it revoked for non-use. So after a rebrand, the old name is either an asset or a liability, and it’s worth deciding which, deliberately.
What is happening to the Halifax brand?
An email landed in my inbox this morning. After 173 years, the Halifax brand is being retired. On 1 July 2026 Lloyds Banking Group announced that Halifax will move to the Lloyds brand across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Customers will be moved to the Lloyds app over the coming months, accounts will be rebranded over time with the same sort codes and account numbers, and Halifax branches will switch to Lloyds or merge with nearby Lloyds branches during 2027. Bank of Scotland stays as the lead brand in Scotland.
Credit where it’s due: the email opens by telling you how to spot that it’s genuine, and Halifax’s brand change page says any action will start in your app or online banking, never from a link. Given how many scams are doing the rounds, that says a lot about the world we’re in.
But my first thought (cause I’m a geek) was a different one. What happens to all those Halifax trademarks?
What happens to a trademark after a rebrand?
It carries on existing, and it keeps its value only if you keep it alive. A UK trademark lasts 10 years and can be renewed indefinitely. You can renew in the six months before it expires and, with a late fee, up to six months afterwards, according to the IPO’s renewal guidance, and our trademark renewal service sends reminders well before the date comes round. Nothing in that process asks whether you still use the name. Renewal keeps the registration on the register. It doesn’t keep it safe.
That’s the part that catches businesses out after a rebrand. The certificate still looks the same. The protection underneath it is quietly getting weaker.
Can you lose a trademark you’ve stopped using?
Yes. Use it or lose it. Under section 46 of the Trade Marks Act 1994, a registration can be revoked if it hasn’t been put to genuine use in the UK for the goods or services it covers for an uninterrupted period of five years, without a proper reason. A few details matter here.
Anyone can apply
The application for revocation can come from anyone, including a competitor who wants the name, and it can be made to the IPO or the court. Our trademark cancellation service works on both sides of this, bringing non-use challenges and defending them with evidence of use.
It can be partial
If you’ve stopped using the mark for some goods or services but not others, revocation can apply only to the unused ones.
Last-minute use doesn’t always rescue it
Starting to use the mark again after the five years can save it, but not if that use starts in the three months before a revocation application and only after you became aware one might be made.
There’s a second effect too. Once your registration has been on the register for five years, you’ll generally need to show proof of use before you can rely on it to oppose somebody else’s application. An old mark you’ve stopped using isn’t just vulnerable. It’s also much less useful as a weapon.
The honest counterweight: token use isn’t enough, but small, real use can be. Putting the old name on a single invoice to keep the registration going is exactly the kind of manufactured use that doesn’t hold up. Selling something genuine under it, even modestly, is different.
Why would a big brand keep a retired name alive?
Because the goodwill doesn’t vanish overnight. Large organisations know this, and in my experience they almost never just let a retired name go. I’d expect the Halifax registrations to be kept alive and defended for years. If somebody opened a financial services business called Halifax next year, you can imagine the response.
Timing helps them too. The five-year clock for non-use only starts once genuine use stops, and Halifax branches are set to carry on until they switch during 2027. A business with a legal team will plan how the old name is used, recorded and watched well before that clock runs down.
What do small businesses tend to do after a rebrand?
Often the opposite. They rebrand, the old name stops being anyone’s job, the renewal gets missed or the mark drifts into non-use, and eventually somebody else picks it up, often with some of the goodwill attached.
Meanwhile customers still associate the business with the old name, which is exactly the gap fake accounts and lookalike domains love. Someone searching for the brand they remember finds a social profile or a website that isn’t you. Our guides on removing fake social media accounts and stopping people using your brand in domains and websites explain why a live registration makes those takedowns much easier.
It’s a bit like selling your old car without telling the DVLA. It isn’t yours any more in any way that matters to you, but your name is still attached to whatever somebody does with it.
Is it worth keeping your old trademark after a rebrand?
It depends on how much the old name still means to customers, and it’s worth answering on purpose rather than by default. In my view, there are three sensible routes.
Keep it registered while the goodwill lasts
If customers still search for the old name, keep renewing it and keep some genuine use going where it makes commercial sense, for example on a legacy product or a service line that still trades under it. Point the old domain at the new site so people who remember you still find you.
Let it go deliberately
If the old name genuinely means nothing any more, letting it lapse can be the right call. Just make it a decision rather than something that happens because nobody owned the renewal date.
Keep an eye on who starts using it
Whichever route you take, watch the register and the internet for the old name. If someone starts trading under it, early is always cheaper than late. Our trademark monitoring starts from £14 a month. It won’t create genuine use where none exists, but it will tell you when somebody else starts using a name you’ve spent years building.
If you’ve rebranded, or you’re about to, start with our free trademark search on both names. If the new name isn’t registered yet, that’s the bigger gap, and our UK trademark registration service covers it from the search through to registration. If you’d like to talk through what to keep, what to let go and what to watch, you can book a free call, email enquiries@thetrademarkhelpline.com or ring 0161 833 5400. The consultation is free for new clients.
If you rebranded tomorrow, what would you do with the old name?
Related questions
- How much is my brand or trademark actually worth?
- What would it cost me to rebrand if I am forced to change my name?
- Will not having a trademark affect selling my business?
- I got a trademark renewal letter or invoice. Is it a scam?
This article is for information purposes only and does not constitute trademark advice or guidance. Last reviewed 25 September 2026. First shared as a LinkedIn post.
