Trade marks · 12 June 2026 · 8 min
After SkyKick: specification discipline on the UK register
Broad class headings are no longer a harmless habit. The specification you file is now part of the validity of the mark.
For years it was common, and sometimes advised, to file a UK trade mark against a long list of goods the applicant might one day sell. The official fee is charged per class, not per item, so the extra words looked free. They were never free in a dispute, and they are less free now.
What changed
The SkyKick litigation, and the UKIPO practice that followed it, tightened the consequences of a specification that the applicant had no genuine intention to use. A mark can be held invalid, in whole or in part, where the list of goods is a fiction. Partial invalidity is not a technical bruise. It can gut the classes you actually needed.
Examination is also less forgiving of vague terms. Words that could cover almost anything in a class invite a request for clarification. That request costs time, and a poorly answered request costs the term.
How we draft now
- Start from the products and services on sale, or in a funded pipeline, in the next five years — not from the Nice heading.
- Keep a short internal note of the commercial reason for each item. If you cannot write the reason, delete the item.
- File a second mark later if the business actually expands. A clean later filing is cheaper than defending a bloated first one.
- On a renewal, review the specification. A mark can be partially surrendered. Dead wood is not an asset.
What to do with marks already on the register
Do not panic-surrender a registration because the original specification was ambitious. Do audit it. If a competitor is circling, or if you are about to sue, get advice on whether the unused terms are a liability. If you are simply renewing a quiet house mark, record the use you do have and leave the rest until there is a reason to touch it.
The discipline is commercial, not aesthetic. A short specification that matches the business will survive an attack that a copied class heading will not.
This note is general information about UK intellectual property practice. It is not advice on a particular set of facts. For that, write to [email protected].