How H&M Accelerates Trademark Clearance at Global Scale

How one of the world’s largest fashion retailers achieves speed, simplicity, and confidence in its trademark searches.

For H&M, trademark clearance underpins thousands of new designs, sub-brands, and campaigns. Its legal team in Stockholm must clear names quickly, accurately, and at scale.

Discover how Björn Norberg and Axel Rahnberg, Legal Counsels at H&M Hennes & Mauritz GBC AB, use Corsearch’s TrademarkNow to combine speed with accuracy across their trademark work.

“Speed is a crucial thing. The tool needs to be easy to implement, user-friendly and logical from our standpoint.”
Axel Rahnberg, Legal Counsel

The Challenge: fast, reliable clearance across a vast portfolio

H&M’s legal team manages an enormous flow of new product names and creative assets. They needed a solution that would let them keep pace with the business without sacrificing quality. Traditional tools often involved multiple clicks, delayed results, or static report —slowing the process and frustrating users.

Beyond speed, the team also needed flexibility. Some questions require a rapid, high-level check; others demand a deep, evidence-based assessment across jurisdictions. Any solution had to handle both ends of that spectrum and be intuitive enough for every team member to use without long training sessions.

The Solution: TrademarkNow ExaMatch and deeper modules

H&M turned to Corsearch’s TrademarkNow platform. The ExaMatch module quickly became the team’s go-to for everyday clearance, delivering instant search results and interactive filtering. “You can just click, you can add classifications… we haven’t experienced that before,” Axel
explains. “It was constantly interacting with your way of adding filters… that was appealing because speed is of paramount importance.”

The ability to build and refine searches on the fly meant the team could work in real time, rather than waiting for reports or exporting data to separate systems. When a more detailed analysis is needed, they switch to other modules within TrademarkNow. This mix allows them to move seamlessly from quick checks to in-depth assessments without leaving the platform.

For H&M, that flexibility has become central: a single system that caters to both fast answers and deeper investigation depending on the question at hand.

Fast adoption and team-wide onboarding

Implementation had to be quick. The legal team couldn’t afford a long adjustment period.

With Corsearch, the onboarding was tailored to H&M’s way of working and involved the entire IP team from the start, so everyone could begin using the tool immediately.

“Everyone needed to be onboarded. Corsearch ensured it didn’t take a long time at all.”
Axel Rahnberg, Legal Counsel

Direct access to Corsearch’s support team meant users could contact the trainer or support directly with questions rather than routing everything through a single internal point of contact. Minor technical issues were resolved quickly, keeping adoption smooth.

Björn notes that this approach helped accommodate the different ways individual lawyers work: “We are individuals. We have slightly different ways of looking at the tool and how we use it.” Giving each user a relationship with Corsearch allowed the system to fit those variations instead of forcing a single rigid process.

A responsive partner

H&M valued how Corsearch listened to feedback. Features suggested by the team were incorporated, showing the tool evolved with their needs rather than dictating a process.

Even the initial introduction was different. Rather than a one-size-fits-all demo, Corsearch focused on how the tool could support H&M’s specific way of working, helping the team get up to speed faster. This built confidence that the platform will continue to evolve with H&M’s needs.

Meeting high standards for accuracy and price

For H&M, speed isn’t enough. The tool must also be accurate, easy to learn, and cost-effective.

“We have very high demands because it has to be accurate. It has to be fast. It has to be easy to learn. I think you hit what we needed at the right price.”
Björn Norberg, Legal Counsel

Armed with richer data, the team can make more calculated risk assessments and reduce the likelihood of trademark issues across its vast portfolio of new signs and products.

The results: confident trademark decision-making

TrademarkNow has become an integral part of H&M’s trademark clearance process. The legal team can now:

• Clear marks instantly using ExaMatch.
• Switch to other modules for in-depth analysis when needed.
• Onboard new team members quickly without lengthy training.
• Work directly with Corsearch to refine features.

The outcome is faster, more confident trademark decision-making across one of the most active brand portfolios in the fashion industry.

Why Corsearch

For H&M, Corsearch’s TrademarkNow delivers the balance they were looking for: speed and ease-of-use for routine tasks, depth and rigor for complex ones, rapid onboarding for new users, and a responsive partner who listens. This combination frees the team to focus on strategic decisions rather than manual searching.

Next-gen trademark clearance solutions

Trusted by industry professionals worldwide, our TrademarkNow platform offers reliable and mature AI-powered end-to-end trademark solutions.

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