EUIPO
Representation before the EUIPO for existing EU trademark applications and registrations, including international registrations designating the EU. For international registrations, the fee applies separately to each designated territory (Germany or the EU).
Under Articles 119 and 120 EUTMR, applicants and holders with neither a domicile, a principal place of business nor a real and effective industrial or commercial establishment in the European Economic Area (EEA) generally need an authorised representative for EUIPO proceedings. Filing an EU trademark application itself is exempt; subsequent proceedings require representation. The EEA comprises the EU Member States, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. Applicants and holders with the required EEA connection may act without a professional representative. A specific exception allows representation by an employee of an economically connected EEA company under Article 119(3) EUTMR.
For an international registration (IR) designating the European Union under the Madrid System, an EUIPO representative is generally not needed merely to designate the EU. For a holder without the EEA connection described above, representation becomes necessary when responding to a provisional refusal or taking part in opposition proceedings before the EUIPO. The rules also apply to other direct procedural steps, such as filing a seniority claim with the EUIPO.
A representative appointed before WIPO is not automatically qualified to act before the EUIPO.
Does the notice state “No representative has been appointed”? This is a formal objection concerning representation in your EU trademark application.
KUDLA LEGAL can take over representation and file the required appointment. This is included in our €150 representation fee per application, plus VAT where applicable. Additional objections require separate consideration.
Read our guide to understand the notice, the deadline and the next steps, or send us your notice, application number and deadline to request representation.
EUIPO notice of absence of formal requirements: what to do
Contact usThe following are the English titles of relevant notifications, with the legal references used in those notices. For holders without the required EEA connection, each of these situations requires an eligible representative for the EUIPO proceedings, unless the employee-representation exception applies.
Article 5 of the Madrid Protocol, Rule 17(1) and (2) of the Regulations under the Protocol relating to the Madrid Agreement, Article 33(2), Articles 41 and 193 EUTMR, and Article 33 EUTMIR.
The EUIPO raises objections affecting part of the goods or services. Review the stated grounds and the affected terms: appointing a representative alone does not resolve substantive objections.
Article 5 of the Madrid Protocol, Rule 17(1) and (2) of the Regulations under the Protocol relating to the Madrid Agreement, and Article 33 EUTMIR.
The EUIPO provisionally refuses protection for all goods or services covered by the EU designation. The notice must be reviewed to establish whether appointment alone resolves the objection or whether a substantive response is also required.
Article 5 of the Madrid Protocol, Rule 17(1) and (2) of the Regulations under the Protocol relating to the Madrid Agreement and Article 78 EUTMDR.
A third party has opposed protection of the IR trademark in the EU. This notification does not mean that the opposition has already succeeded. Appointment and the defence against the opposition are separate tasks.
You can instruct us to take over representation before the EUIPO and provide your instructions through our Filing Portal.
Official legal sources: Article 33 EUTMIR · Articles 77–78 EUTMDR
The review carried out for the appointment does not include reviewing any response prepared by your firm for submission.
For each subsequent official communication setting a deadline, the €45 fee covers forwarding the original, providing a translation where required under your firm’s language preferences, and recording and monitoring the deadline. For an office objection, it also includes a brief initial assessment and an estimate for further work.
No additional €45 communication-handling fee applies to an official communication already supplied with your initial instructions to appoint us. Filing a response, detailed legal analysis and the drafting or review of a response are separate services.
Please provide the office, trademark application, registration or IR number, applicant or proprietor details, your firm’s reference, current representative, any office communication and deadline, and your instructions. Confirm that your firm is authorised to appoint us on behalf of the applicant or proprietor, as applicable.
After you have sent us your instructions through the Filing Portal, we review your request as described below. When submitting your instructions, you can choose from the following options: “Take over representation only” (preselected). “File a response prepared by your firm” (+€85 net): provide the completed response in final form, ready for submission, in the form or as an attachment. We submit it as supplied or copy it onto our letterhead without changing its content. Drafting, reviewing and substantively amending the response are not included. “Analysis and recommendation”: we review the matter and send you a proposal for the next steps, together with the estimated costs. “Other instructions”: please specify what you would like us to do.
We check the information, authority and deadlines and confirm the fee and acceptance of the engagement. Sending a request alone does not transfer responsibility for deadlines. If a deadline is urgent, please contact us in advance and obtain our express confirmation that we can meet it.
We submit the appointment electronically to the EUIPO.
Once we have received confirmation from the EUIPO, we send your firm the submission report and check that we are recorded as representative.
We handle further work according to the course of the proceedings and your instructions. All services for which no fixed fee is stated are billed on a time-spent basis. You may instruct us to proceed directly or request a cost estimate first. If you request an estimate, we briefly review the information and documents provided and indicate the expected time and costs. We start the substantive work only after you subsequently instruct us to proceed. If you instruct us directly, we charge at €310 net per hour under our terms of engagement, unless otherwise agreed.
We remain recorded as representative after completion of the initial assignment. No recurring fee is charged solely for remaining on record. Subsequent official communications are handled at the stated rates. Renewal monitoring, reminders and renewal filings are provided only if separately agreed. Any change of representative is arranged separately.
| Service | Charge |
|---|---|
| Handling an official communication setting a deadline | €45 per communication |
| Filing a response prepared by your firm | €85 |
The €45 fee covers forwarding the original official communication, providing a translation where required under your firm’s language preferences, and recording and monitoring the deadline. If the communication contains an office objection, the fee also includes a brief initial assessment of that objection and an estimate for further work. Detailed legal analysis and the drafting or review of a response require a separate agreement.
The €85 fixed fee covers filing a response supplied by your firm in final form, ready for submission to the office. We submit the response as supplied or copy it onto our letterhead without changing its content. The fee does not include drafting, reviewing or substantively amending the response. Any such work requires separate instructions and a separate fee agreement. The fixed fee takes precedence over hourly billing and carries no additional document fee.
The €45 fee does not apply to an official communication already supplied with your initial instructions to appoint us. All professional fees are exclusive of VAT, which is added where applicable.
Fees