Filing a trademark in Europe and worldwide

Type of trademark

With a single registration application, it is possible to obtain legal protection for your trademark in all the member countries of the European Union. The European Union trademark (EUTM) therefore has supranational scope and confers on the holder an exclusive right in the 28 states, and automatically extends to every new EU member. Unlike the international trademark (which is a bundle of national trademarks), the EUTM is a single trademark valid for all EU countries and it is therefore impossible to limit the geographical scope of protection to only some member states.

Where

The application for registration of a European Union trademark must be submitted to the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) in Alicante (Spain).

The application for registration of an international trademark must be submitted to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) based in Geneva.

Costs

To file an application for the registration of an EUTM, the filing fee must be paid to the EUIPO, namely:

  • EUR 850 for electronic filing for one class of goods and services (e-filing)
  • or EUR 1,000 for filing a paper application for one class of goods and services
  • EUR 50 if you intend to protect a second class of goods and services
  • EUR 150 for each class protected beyond the second.

To obtain protection outside the borders of the EU, you can file individual national applications in the countries of interest or use the instrument provided by the Madrid Protocol for the international registration of trademarks.

Representation

It is not compulsory to be represented by a trademark attorney to file a European Union trademark with the EUIPO, nor to file an international trademark through the procedure provided by the Madrid Protocol (with WIPO).

It must nonetheless be borne in mind that the registration of a trademark of any kind requires specific skills and experience in order to obtain a strong trademark and to limit any objections to the registration of the trademark by third parties and examiners, where provided for by the procedure.