To find out when someone applies to trademark a name close to yours, do two things: search the public register periodically for your name and close variations, and use the IPO’s free alerts to follow any specific marks or owners you want to keep tabs on. The register is open to anyone, and there’s a fixed window — two months after an application is published — in which you can formally object before it registers.
The reason this matters: once a conflicting mark registers, your options narrow and get expensive. Spot it during that two-month window and you can oppose it cleanly. Searching once tells you about today; watching tells you about tomorrow.
The register is public — use that
Every UK trademark application and registration is on the public register: the owner, the mark, the goods or services, and the dates. So you can see who’s applying for what. The catch is that a single search only captures the moment you run it — a name that’s clear today can be applied for next week.
The fix is to re-check regularly for your name and the variations that would worry you (similar spellings, names that sound alike, your name in another class). It costs nothing.
Re-run your check here whenever it matters. Search the UK and EU registers in seconds, free — before a launch, a rebrand, or whenever you want to know who else is moving on a similar name.
Check a name free →The two-month window is the part that’s easy to miss
When an application passes examination, it’s published for two months (extendable to three on request). During that window — and only during it — anyone with an earlier right can formally object before the mark registers. After it closes, the mark registers and challenging it becomes harder and more expensive.
That’s why timing beats vigilance-after-the-fact: the whole point of watching is to land inside that window.
Set up free IPO alerts
You don’t have to check manually forever. The IPO’s “track a trade mark” service lets you follow other people’s applications for free — so you can be told when a mark is registered, opposed, or has its details changed. It’s the official way to keep an eye on a competitor or to follow a specific application you’re concerned about.
One thing it won’t do is surface a brand-new filing by someone you’ve never heard of. So pair it with periodic searches: alerts track movement on marks you already know about; a fresh search is what turns up the new filings you didn’t.
If you find a conflicting application
If something close to your brand is published, you have choices inside the two-month window:
- Oppose it — file a formal opposition with the IPO (worth taking advice, as you may bear costs).
- Negotiate — agree a coexistence or a narrowing of their goods and services.
- Let it go — if it’s genuinely in a different field and unlikely to confuse anyone.
What you can’t do is wait. The right to object lives in that window.
A quieter risk worth knowing about
The moment you file a trademark, your details become public — and that’s exactly when fake “invoice” letters start arriving, dressed up to look official. If you’ve recently applied, read how to spot trademark scam letters so you don’t pay a stranger for a service you never asked for.
Watching the register is good practice; knowing what not to pay is just as valuable.