From 1 October 2007 the UK Trade Marks Office will no longer refuse to register a new trade mark application because of an earlier conflicting trade mark, unless the owner of the earlier mark successfully opposes the new application.

The Trade Marks Office will still search the relevant registers as part of the examination process and send the applicant the results. If the examiner considers that there may be any potential earlier conflicting marks already on the register, the applicant must choose between continuing with the application, restricting the list of goods and services to try to overcome the clash with the earlier mark, or withdrawing it.

If the applicant decides to continue with the application, the Trade Marks Office will write to the owners of any earlier conflicting marks identified in the search when the application proceeds to publication in the Trade Marks Journal. The Trade Marks Office will notify the owners of earlier UK marks automatically but EU marks owners will need to "opt-in”, subject to the payment of the relevant fee.