Established Representative at the UK Intellectual Property Office — since 2008
Every figure below comes from the public UK trademark register. We’ve put ourselves next to the two alternatives, warts and all, because we’d rather you chose with clear eyes. And we’ll always tell you honestly which one is right for you.
| Self-service(no representative) | The Trademark Helpline★ from £14/month | Trademark Attorney(IP professional firms) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of filings | ~1.2 per applicant (435k filings / 366k people) | 2,058 in period (4,343 all-time) | ~37 per attorney (338k filings / 9,269 attorneys) |
| Reaches examination | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| Clears examination (published) | 85% | 92% | 97% |
| Why ours sits a little lower: we speculate with Right Start applications. Right Start lets a client test an idea at examination before committing the full fee, so some applications are always going to stop here by design. It’s a deliberate, money-saving choice for a smaller business. | |||
| Opposed by a third party | 1.8% | 2.5% | 2.1% |
| Why we’re opposed slightly more: we fight for the classes and terms our clients actually want. When a client is set on something, we’ll go after it, then negotiate or compromise if someone challenges it. That’s why our registration rate stays high even though a few more of our marks get opposed. | |||
| Refused | 5.3% | 2.2% | 0.7% |
| Why ours is higher than an attorney’s: we handle a very high volume of applications for small businesses, and we’ll take on cases a boutique attorney might turn away. Attorneys tend to pre-screen heavily and decline anything risky, which keeps their refusals very low. Ours are still well below the DIY rate. | |||
| Withdrawn | 9.2% | 5.5% | 1.9% |
| Why ours is higher: this is mostly Right Start again. Those applications are speculative by design, so if the examiner’s early view isn’t good, the client can withdraw before spending the full fee rather than pushing on with a weak case. | |||
| Registered Key figure | 84.5% | 92.0% | 97.0% |
| Why we sit just behind an attorney: we don’t cherry-pick. We act for everyone from one-man bands to multinationals, at high volume, and we’ll happily speculate with a Right Start or back a client’s commercial call when budgets are tight. Attorneys serve a narrow pool of high-value clients and screen out anything risky. Same expertise, far wider doors. We’d rather help more businesses protect their brand than polish a headline number. | |||
| Later cancelled | 0.1% | 0.4% | 0.1% |
| Why it happens: it’s usually a commercial decision, not a failure. Our clients don’t always have the funds or the appetite to challenge a cancellation, and we’d rather help them make the sensible business call than push them into spending money to defend something they no longer need. | |||
| Surrendered | 0.3% | 0.1% | 0.2% |
| Address hidden from public register | No, your address is public | Yes, via Care of Address | Yes |
| Handles IPO objections & oppositions for you | No, you handle the IPO yourself | Yes | Yes |
| Active monitoring available | No | Yes, included | Yes, at premium rates |
| Cost | Time only (your own hours) | From £14/month ~£49–£149/hr ad-hoc | ~£300–£500 per hour |
The short version: going it alone gets refused or withdrawn about three times as often as using us, and roughly 1 in 7 DIY applications never reaches registration. Our results come close to an attorney’s, they’re far better than doing it yourself, and they cost a fraction of attorney fees.
1 Source: analysis of the public UK IPO trademark register, applications filed between 2015 and 2023. Self-service means no representative was recorded (434,720 filings). The Trademark Helpline is our own record (2,058 in this period, 4,343 all-time). Trademark Attorney means representatives classified as IP professionals on the register, not including us (337,965 filings across 9,269 attorneys).
2 “Reached registration” means the mark reached registered status at some point. 3 Represented marks are opposed slightly more often because they tend to be more valuable and contested. Represented owners also defend oppositions far more successfully. Cost figures are indicative market ranges.
We’re not going to pretend a £14-a-month service and a £400-an-hour attorney are the same thing. Here’s the honest picture behind the figures. It usually makes the choice clearer, not murkier.
Most of our clients are small businesses, not corporates with legal budgets to burn. That matters in two ways. We handle a very high number of applications, so statistically more of them run into a potential conflict. And our clients don’t always have the budget, or the appetite, to fight every opposition or chase every infringer. An attorney’s corporate clients nearly always do. So the difference you see in the outcomes comes down to budgets and priorities, not capability.
When a client’s budget is tight, or our upfront audit flags a risk, we can file a Right Start application. It’s the IPO’s own service, and it gets you the examiner’s opinion before you commit the full fee. If the news is bad, you can stop without throwing good money after bad. It’s a sensible way to test the water. It also means some of our applications are exploratory by design, which pulls our raw registration rate down a little. For a small business, we think that’s the right trade.
When a matter genuinely needs a regulated solicitor or trade mark attorney, such as legal escalation or litigation, we say so and we point you to one. When you enquire, we’ll be honest about whether we’re the right fit for you. We’d rather send you to the right person than take on something that isn’t ours to take.
We handle the vast majority of everyday trademark work just as effectively as an attorney, at a fraction of the cost. When the law calls for a regulated professional, we defer to one. That way you keep your budget in reserve for the moments that really need a legal specialist.
Representation from just £14/month, including Care of Address, objection handling and monitoring.
Figures derived from the public UK Intellectual Property Office trademark register (cohort: applications filed 2015–2023). Percentages describe typical outcomes and will vary by case; every trademark is assessed on its own merits. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.
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