Rack of glasses

Sector group

Trade marks

Trade marks enable brands to secure a strong competitive advantage by distinguishing their goods and services from those of their competitors.

City scape

Trade marks exist to provide the owner with certain exclusive rights to words, logos, slogans, numbers, colours and audio branding, providing a powerful tool in preventing copycats and counterfeits.

HGF’s large, multidisciplinary team across Europe provides industry-leading advice in securing trade marks for brands across all industries, be it retail, media or food & drink, ensuring goods and services are registered in the optimum categories and jurisdictions to secure the strongest possible protection.

Our attorneys represent clients at the EU, UK, German and Benelux Trade Mark Registries and are also highly experienced in dealing with oppositions, appeals and IP litigation.

In addition, our trade mark attorneys work closely with our IP lawyers in relation to agreements such as for IP licensing, franchising, merchandising, coexistence, selective distribution, and litigation.

Latest updates

Event - 2nd June 2026

HGF are proud sponsors of Retail Week General Counsel 2026

HGF is proud to be sponsoring Retail Week General Counsel. This will take place on Wednesday 3rd June at Ham Yard Hotel. The retail legal landscape is undergoing a fundamental …

Event details

IP Ingredients: Winter Case Law Review 2025

A seasonal tasting of recent IP decisions across the UK and EU.  Including notes on what brand owners, creatives, R&D teams and food and drink businesses should take away. Patents …

Read article
Event - 3rd February 2026

HGF Brand & Design Conference 2026

Join us on 3rd February 2026 for HGF’s Brand & Design Conference, the must attend event for in-house legal teams, brand leaders, creatives, and innovators shaping the future of IP. …

Event details

Retailers liability and AI Applications

The question of whether the user (consumer) or the provider of an AI application is liable for the infringement of intellectual property rights as a result of the use of …

Read article
Event - 26th September 2025

INTA’s 2025 Trademark Administrators and Practitioners (TMAP) Meeting

Adjoa Anim, Trade Mark Director at HGF, will be a featured speaker at the 2025 Trademark Administrators and Practitioners (TMAP) Meeting, taking place September 28–30, 2025, in Berlin, Germany. Adjoa …

Event details

Managing IP firm rankings – Trade Marks 2025

HGF has once again been highly recognised in the Managing Intellectual Property firm rankings for trade marks, with Tier 1 rankings and high recommendations in several key jurisdictions. Each year, …

Read article

HGF ranked highly recommended in the WIPR Trade Mark Rankings 2025

HGF has been recognised as a leading firm in the recently published World IP Review (WIPR) Trade Mark Rankings 2025. This achievement highlights our continued commitment to excellence in trade …

Read article

IP Ingredients: Pouring Over the Verdict: What Thatchers v Aldi Means for Food & Drink Brands

Readers of our IP Ingredients blog may recall that we covered something of this case last summer in our post IP Ingredients: Summer case law review. The dispute between Thatchers …

Read article