EU Trademark registration procedure

EU Trademark registration process

Step 1: Search

Prior to filing a trademark search should be done. It can be ordered online on our website.

Please contact us with your trademark and a list of goods and/or services of interest and we will do a free trademark search for you.

Step 2: Filing your application

In order to file your EU trademark application, we need:

  • Trademark name
  • A picture of your trademark logo (.jpg image is preferable);
  • Applicant’s name and address (this may be an individual, two individual or a legal entity, such as a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) or a company);
  • A list of the goods and/or services in relation to which your trademark mark is used or intended to be used. Don’t worry about sending an exact list. A description in your own words is enough.

If your application claims priority from a corresponding foreign trademark application, please provide the filing date, application number, and country of first filing.

Your trademark will be submitted electronically after you approve it.

We’ll get confirmation of the filed application and filing receipt immediately. It will confirm the filing date and an application number.

Step 3: Examination

Your EU trademark application will be reviewed within a month, if we filed your trademark application via Fast-Track.

Your application is examined on the following grounds:

EUIPO perform relative examination, which includes the formalities examination and the examination as to absolute grounds for refusal, especially classification and descriptiveness.

  1. Formalities examination – The examiner will check to make sure that the application was filed correctly and that the list of goods/services was correct.  The Examiner may also ask additional questions, like asking to re-specify the goods/services if they were not clear. and
  2. Absolute grounds – the Examiner determines whether the trademark is descriptive or non-distinctive. Please note that EUIPO will not examine check for earlier filed trademarks that may be considered confusingly similar to your mark (trademarks already filed and registered).

If an examination objection is raised, the Examiner will set a period for the applicant to respond.

Step 4: Publication

Once the examination stage is completed, the application will be published for opposition. Within a three-month period, third parties have an opportunity to file an opposition based upon prior registered or unregistered rights.

The most common ground for an opposition is confusion with a prior filed or registered trademark.

Some other grounds are descriptiveness and bad faith.

About 5% of all applications are opposed and many oppositions result in a settlement.

A “cooling off” period may also be obtained. Cooling off period provides an opportunity for parties to negotiate and hopefully settle.

Step 5: Registration

One week after the end of the publication period, the EUIPO will issue an electronic registration certificate. There is no paper registration certificate.

The registration certificate confirms the registration details and registration dates.

Once the EU trademark application has registered you may use the ® symbol with the use of your mark in the EU to indicate that your trademark is now registered. Please do not use ® symbol before registration.

You may also wish to use the following notice: “[YOUR TRADE MARK] is a Registered EU Trade Mark of [PROPRIETOR]”. This alerts others to your rights and can act as a deterrent.

Next step: Renewal

A EU trademark registration can last indefinitely, but it has to be renewed every 10 years. You should also preserve evidence of your use of your trademark. Please note that your trademark must be put to “genuine use in the European Community” within five years of registration. If the trademark has not been used, without a very good reason, for five years or more, then the registration may be cancelled.

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