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Auralia, a cosmetic and weight loss surgery provider based in Dublin asked Downing IP to apply for trademarks in respect of their name. They wanted to protect the name in the UK and in the EU (thus including Ireland).
We started with a UK application, which was followed up with an EU filing. (Michael is able to act in the EU office as he is also qualified as an Irish trade mark attorney, and hence able to act in the EU. So this meant that it was possible to do a single filing programme, reducing the total cost for the client)
When we applied for the UK trademark, it was opposed by a company with a skin care brand called Aurelia, on the basis that they felt it was a similar name to our client’s name.
The company makes skin creams and low dose food supplements for skin health, and food supplements are included within their registered trademark.
As one of their services to clients, Auralia sell high dose food supplements that are bought by people who have had weight loss surgery. Some of their patients need to take these food supplements for the rest of their life.
If you look at it broadly, both companies sell food supplements as part of their range. However, it is clear that they have different markets for these supplements.
There are two routes that we could have taken. We could have reacted aggressively, gone back to the Trade Mark Registries and explained that the supplements were for different uses and challenged the opponent’s objection.
Instead, we decided to enter into correspondence with the company who were opposing the application, to explain that Auralia would not be a threat to their business because they operate in a different market.
Auralia is carrying out weight loss surgery, and is selling the supplements that are relevant to people who have been through that, whereas Aurelia is selling skin care products and supplements suitable for that purpose. We were able to make an agreement with them that acknowledged that the positioning of the two types of food supplements are distinctly different, and therefore that each company could operate within their own defined market without causing problems for the other company.
The trademark application process was started in 2023 and was successfully registered in the UK and Europe in 2025, with an agreement in place with the skin care supplement company Aurelia that clearly sets out the differences in the areas of use.
When registering a new trademark, it is good to engage with objections and see if you can work something out with the company filing the opposition. If you can’t agree at this early stage, then you can still rebrand without much expense. However, if you receive objections to your trademark once you have been using it and have to change it, this can be much more costly.
We recommend involving intellectual property experts like our team at Downing IP when you file a new trademark application or when you respond to objections, because we have the experience to come up with solutions that you might not know to try.
