If the intellectual property office dismisses my application, will I get a refund?

No, you won't receive a refund from the IP Office if your application is dismissed. Therefore, following the rules and conditions under which the trademark can be registered is crucial.

The first criterion the IP office will assess is distinctiveness. Here, the mark is evaluated in terms of being unique and distinctive enough to be identified by consumers.

The second main criterion is similarity. The examiner will compare the mark to already registered trademarks in the database and check whether it's sufficiently distinctive from them.

If the IP Office finds your application not eligible for registration, it will issue an office action. In some jurisdictions, the application can be dismissed without even issuing an office action. If the office action was issued, you may try to persuade the IP Office about why the trademark should be registered, possibly in the form of acquired distinctiveness, meaning that your brand is widely recognised by the customers and therefore constitutes a registrable trademark.

Filing fees contain a government (administrative) fee and a service fee (cost of your legal representative's services, if applicable). If you decide not to proceed with responding to the office action, you can drop your application, but all previously paid fees will be lost.