Received a provisional refusal on your international trade mark?

This service deals with a refusal that has already been issued. Instead of helping with filing strategy or country selection, the work centres on the objections raised in the provisional refusal notice and what they mean for your application. We review the notice, explain the grounds raised, and outline possible response paths. It is a one-off advice service, not ongoing representation for the full overseas process, and it does not automatically include preparing submissions to the foreign office.

Most clients book this service after receiving a formal notice saying protection has been provisionally refused in one or more countries under an international trade mark filing. Often the notice is difficult to interpret, especially where the objection refers to local practice, classification issues, descriptiveness concerns, or conflicts with earlier rights. This consultation is useful when you want a lawyer to assess the refusal quickly, explain the commercial significance, and help you decide whether to respond, narrow the application, appoint overseas counsel, or stop pursuing that designation.

Not always. Whether a direct response is possible depends on the country involved and the rules applying to that office. In many cases, a locally qualified representative or agent may need to be appointed to lodge the formal response. This service helps you understand that issue before you spend more on the matter. We can identify when local representation is likely to be required, what information that representative may need, and how your refusal notice should be interpreted before that next step is taken.

Usually not. Provisional refusals are often highly specific to the wording of your application, the goods or services claimed, the earlier rights cited, and the examination approach of the country involved. A generic response can miss the real issue or adopt a position that is not commercially useful. This service gives you advice tied to the actual refusal notice you received, including the nature of the objection and whether the matter looks like something that can be answered directly or needs broader overseas trade mark support.

After the consultation, you should have a clearer view of what the refusal is about, which issues appear procedural versus substantive, and what the likely next step is. In some matters, the sensible next move is to prepare a response through a local associate in the country that issued the refusal. In others, it may be better to reconsider the wording of goods and services or the commercial value of continuing. If broader work is needed, we can explain the likely handover or follow-on legal work.

Submit an enquiry on this page or click 'Get started'. One of our legal consultants will review it within 1 business day and get in touch to understand what you need.

Your consultant will then email you a fixed-fee quote setting out the cost, scope and timing. If you're happy with it, you can accept the quote and sign our engagement letter online.

Once you've accepted, one of our Australian-qualified lawyers will work with you to complete your project. They'll contact you by email or phone if they need anything.

Sprintlaw works on fixed-fee pricing wherever possible, so you can review the scope and cost before you decide whether to proceed. For the International Trade Mark Advice Provisional Refusal service, pricing starts from $900.00.

After you enquire, a legal consultant will confirm what is included, the expected timing and whether any extra work is needed before you engage us.

We work online, so we can help wherever you are in New Zealand. Our team works remotely, mainly from Australia.

Your work is done by our Australian-qualified lawyers, who hold Australian practising certificates and specialise in business law. None of them are New Zealand lawyers or hold a New Zealand practising certificate.

Sprintlaw NZ Limited is a legal consultancy, not a law firm, and is not regulated by the New Zealand Law Society. We don't act in court or tribunal matters, conveyancing (including leases and business sales) or other reserved areas of work. Communications with Sprintlaw are unlikely to be protected by legal professional privilege. We still keep everything confidential under our engagement letter.