Reading the coexistence agreement: a non-lawyer's guide
The Mutual Trademark Coexistence, Consent and Licensing Agreement between Credicorp Limited and CM Beyer Limited was signed on 30 April 2026. It is the document that lets two related UK companies own two related UK trade marks without tripping over each other. This piece walks through what it actually does, section by section, in non-lawyer English.
This is not legal advice and it is not a substitute for reading the agreement. It is a reading guide.
What a coexistence agreement is
A trade-mark coexistence agreement is a contract between two parties who each own (or want to own) a trade mark, and whose marks could in principle be confused with each other. Each party agrees that the other's mark exists and may be used in defined ways; neither party challenges the other's mark; and they agree on rules for how the two marks coexist in practice.
Coexistence agreements are common when two companies have overlapping names or look-alike marks but distinct products, distinct geographies, or distinct ownership. Two related companies under common directorship is an unusually clean case — both parties want exactly the same outcome, so the agreement mostly memorialises what they were already going to do.
The parties (recitals)
The opening recitals identify who is signing:
- Credicorp Limited — Companies House 16093826 — owner of the registered CrediCorp mark, UK00004156742.
- CM Beyer Limited — Companies House 17009212 — applicant for the new CREDITCORP mark, UK00004379570.
Both are UK private limited companies registered in England and Wales, under common directorship.
The grant of consent
The core operative paragraph. Each party expressly consents to the other's mark existing, being used, and being registered. In trade-mark practice, formal written consent from a prior-rights owner is one of the cleanest ways for a later applicant to clear an examiner's relative-grounds objection (where the IPO is worried that the new mark might conflict with an existing one).
Mutual consent here is reciprocal: both directions, both marks, both companies. Neither company will object to the other's mark at the IPO, in court, or anywhere else.
The licence (back and forth)
A coexistence agreement between related parties often also includes a cross-licence — permission for each party to use the other's mark in specific ways, usually to support group-wide brand use. The "Licensing" word in this agreement's title signals that this is in there.
In practice, the cross-licensing means that:
- Credicorp can refer to its sister company's CREDITCORP mark in its own materials (e.g. credicorp.co.uk can say "part of the CreditCorp Group").
- CM Beyer can refer to Credicorp's CrediCorp mark in its own materials (e.g. this brand site can describe the registered CrediCorp wordmark).
- Neither party is granting the other the right to operate the other's mark as its own — ownership stays where it is.
The "no-conflict" undertakings
A standard pair of promises in any coexistence deal:
- Non-opposition. Each party agrees not to oppose the other's trade-mark applications.
- Non-invalidation. Each party agrees not to apply to invalidate or revoke the other's registered marks.
These commitments matter because UK trade marks are perpetually challengeable in principle — anyone can file an invalidation action at any point if they think a mark shouldn't have been granted. The agreement removes that risk between the two parties.
Field-of-use boundaries
Coexistence agreements typically set out where each mark applies. For two related UK companies in financial / business services, the natural carve-out runs along the Nice classes the marks are filed in:
- CrediCorp sits in Class 36 (financial services) and Class 45 (legal services).
- CREDITCORP sits in Class 35 (advertising / business administration) and Class 36 (financial services).
Class 36 overlaps. That overlap is the reason a written agreement matters — the agreement covers how the two companies will share that field. For the rest, each mark has its own non-overlapping classes.
Quality control
A licensing agreement that's effectively a quality-control arrangement is needed to keep both marks "in use" in the right way. Marks that aren't used can be revoked for non-use after five years; marks used by an uncontrolled licensee can drift in meaning. This agreement records the quality-control standards both companies apply.
Representation (clause 16.2)
The clause specifically called out elsewhere on the brand site — clause 16.2 identifies the UK IPO representative for both parties as Trama Legal s.r.o. (86–90 Paul Street, London EC2A 4NE, United Kingdom).
Having a single IPO representative across both marks simplifies practical filings (renewals, address changes, classification adjustments) and gives any third party a single contact point for trade-mark queries.
Governing law and jurisdiction
The agreement is governed by English law. Any dispute under it goes to the courts of England and Wales. Standard for UK companies dealing with UK trade marks.
Term and termination
Most coexistence agreements continue for as long as both marks exist. The agreement does not have a fixed expiry date; it ends if both marks lapse, or by mutual written consent of the parties, or in defined breach scenarios.
What the agreement deliberately does not do
It does not:
- Merge the two companies. Credicorp Limited and CM Beyer Limited remain separate UK legal entities with separate Companies House records.
- Bind any third party. A coexistence agreement is between the two signatories. It doesn't stop unrelated third parties from challenging either mark in their own name — that's a separate matter.
- Affect the borrower / operator relationship. Customer loan agreements with Credicorp Limited are unaffected. The borrower's counterparty is Credicorp; the agreement is about trade marks.
- Override Article 60B or the FCA perimeter. The lending regulatory position is set by FSMA and the RAO 2001, not by a private contract.
Why it was signed when it was
The agreement is dated 30 April 2026 — two days after CM Beyer Limited filed the CREDITCORP application at UKIPO (28 April 2026). The sequence is the normal one: you file the new mark, then you put the coexistence in writing before publication, so that when the IPO publishes the application (15 May 2026 in this case) the consent of the prior-rights holder is already documented if questions arise.
The PDF itself
The full signed agreement is downloadable — we publish it because we'd rather have it auditable than referenced from a distance:
Download the coexistence agreement (PDF) →