EU trademark filing with the EUIPO

No additional professional fee on registration

Registration reporting and the digital certificate are included in the professional fee. Handling official communications setting a deadline and any additional legal work are charged separately as set out below.

Your instructions, our filing service

Your firm provides the applicant details and the trademark to be filed, and specifies the goods and services to be covered. Submit these details through the portal or an agreed API integration.

The professional fee does not include a trademark availability or similarity search.

You choose the level of support

Additional legal advice, searches and responses to office objections can be agreed separately, with the scope and estimated fees discussed in advance.

Additional charges

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.

All professional fees are exclusive of VAT, which is added where applicable.

Services requiring separate instructions

• Detailed analysis of office objections and drafting, reviewing or substantively amending responses.
• Representation in opposition proceedings.

The EU trademark registration procedure

1. 1

   Your firm submits instructions

   Your firm instructs us through the Filing Portal or an agreed API integration. After submitting your instructions, you can request an email confirming their submission. This does not confirm acceptance of the engagement, which we confirm separately before filing. We communicate with your instructing firm; your client remains the applicant and your firm’s client.

2. 2

   Formal review and translation

   We check the application details and documents for formal requirements. Where required, we translate the goods and services specification into the agreed first language of the application. Translation into German or English is charged at €10 per class. Translation into another language requires prior agreement. When translating, we aim to use harmonised, pre-accepted goods and services terms wherever they accurately reflect your firm’s intended scope of protection. This helps speed up examination and reduces the risk of objections to the wording or classification.

3. 3

   Filing with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO)

   Once the documents are complete and consistent and any required translations are ready, we file the application. We usually file within one to two working days of receiving instructions, provided the necessary information is complete. Please agree any urgent filing date with us in advance.

4. 4

   Filing receipt and application number

   Immediately after electronic filing, the EUIPO provides a submission receipt and application number. We send your firm a filing confirmation and a link to the office’s online record. In our experience, the record is usually accessible within about an hour of filing; availability depends on the office’s systems.

5. 5

   Examination by the office

   Examination begins once the official application fee has been paid. The office examines the formal requirements and absolute grounds for refusal, such as a lack of distinctive character. This examination does not replace a trademark availability or similarity search. Fast Track eligibility depends on EUIPO requirements, including use of pre-accepted terms from the Harmonised Database and timely payment. We issue our invoice after filing and pay the official fees once your payment has been received. Our invoice states the payment deadline needed for timely payment of the official fees. If you require Fast Track processing, please agree the arrangements with us in advance so that the payment requirements can be met. Fast Track does not shorten the three-month opposition period.

6. 6

   Office objections: your firm chooses the response

   If the office raises an objection, we send your firm the original communication and a translation where required under your firm’s language preferences. For a communication setting a deadline, the €45 handling fee includes recording and monitoring the deadline, a brief initial assessment of the objection and an estimate for further work. You choose the support required. We can file a response supplied by your firm in final form for €85, without drafting, reviewing or substantively amending it. Alternatively, you can separately instruct us to review your draft or to analyse the objection and prepare a response. Detailed legal analysis, review and drafting require a separate agreement. Where you instruct us to prepare a response, we propose the next steps and, where appropriate, provide a draft for approval.

7. 7

   Publication, opposition period and registration

   If the application meets the requirements and any deficiencies have been resolved, the EUIPO publishes it. A three-month opposition period follows. If no opposition is filed, or any opposition no longer prevents registration, the mark can be registered once the remaining requirements are met. We retrieve the digital certificate from the EUIPO and send it to your firm with the registration report.

8. 8

   Completion and continued representation

   If registration is completed and no opposition has been filed within the opposition period, the initial filing assignment is complete. If an opposition is filed, we report it to your firm and agree the next steps and any additional work separately. We report the outcome, including, as applicable, refusal of the application, partial refusal with registration for the remaining goods or services, or registration in full. 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.

Protection for ten years from filing

For EU trademarks, the ten-year term is calculated from the application’s filing date. Protection can be renewed for further ten-year periods. Renewal instructions and the applicable fees are agreed separately.

Grace period and proof of use

EU trademarks are subject to a five-year grace period before non-use can have the consequences described below. Genuine use must relate to the European Union. The five-year period begins on the date of registration, not the application’s filing date. There is no requirement to submit evidence of use proactively or at regular intervals to the EUIPO. The office does not routinely check use. After the grace period, proof of genuine use may be required if a third party formally challenges use, for example by applying for revocation for non-use or raising a non-use defence in opposition proceedings. In revocation proceedings, the registration may be cancelled for the goods or services for which genuine use during the relevant five-year period is not established, unless there are proper reasons for non-use. A non-use defence in opposition proceedings can instead prevent reliance on the trademark for the goods or services concerned; it does not itself cancel the registration. It is therefore sensible to retain dated evidence of use in the European Union, such as invoices, catalogues, advertising materials and product or packaging images, showing the goods or services concerned and the nature, period and extent of use.