Select Your Preferred Appointment Now:Free initial consultation

Union Trademark / EU Trademark

The Union Trademark (EU Trademark) is the trademark of the European Union. Union Trademarks are administered by the EUIPO. They grant trademark protection in all current and future EU member states.

Community Trademark

The Union Trademark was formerly known as the “Community Trademark” and was renamed the Union Trademark on March 22, 2016. The terms “Community Trademark” and “Union Trademark” are therefore merely the old and current designations for the same form of trademark.

European Union Trade Mark (EUTM)

European Union Trade Mark, abbreviated EUTM, is the English term for the Union Trademark. Due to the fact that English is used as at least a second language in most trademark applications, the literal translation “EU Trademark” is increasingly used in German instead of the official translation “Union Trademark.”

Select Your Preferred Appointment Now:Free initial consultation

Details on the Union Trademark

EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO)

The EU Intellectual Property Office, or EUIPO for short, in Alicante, Spain, is responsible for registering the Union Trademark.

Scope of Application

The Union Trademark is valid in all current and future member states of the EU.

The “all or nothing” principle applies. It is therefore not possible to exclude individual member states. A Union Trademark “All EU member states, except Malta and Cyprus” is not possible.

The following states are currently members of the EU: Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Cyprus. A Union Trademark is therefore valid in all these states.

If further states are admitted to the EU, the Union Trademark will automatically apply in these states from the date of accession.

If a state withdraws from the EU, the Union Trademark will generally no longer apply there. The UK resolved this as part of its withdrawal from the EU by automatically granting all holders of an EU trademark an additional British trademark.

Relationship of the Union Trademark to other Trademarks

The Union Trademark and all other trademarks valid in the EU or an EU member state are equivalent. This means that an earlier national trademark (e.g. in Portugal) and an earlier international trademark (e.g. with scope of application Portugal) as well as an earlier Union Trademark (for the entire EU) can prevent the registration of a later Union Trademark.

The same applies in part to earlier names, company names, business designations, product names, equipment, designs and copyrighted titles in other EU countries.

Select Your Preferred Appointment Now:Free initial consultation

Term of Protection

The protection of a Union Trademark is valid for a period of 10 years and can be extended indefinitely for further 10-year periods.

Fees

The fees depend on the number of classes and the chosen procedure. In the fast-track procedure, the registration of the first class costs €850.00, for the second class €50.00 and from the third class €150.00 each.

This means that the fees for a Union Trademark are only slightly more expensive than the fees for a simultaneous registration of a national German and Austrian trademark. This “bargain price” of a trademark registration for the entire EU has advantages and disadvantages.

The main advantage is definitely that the comparatively low fee allows every company to afford trademark protection for the entire EU. The main disadvantage is that companies that will never leave their own country also register a Union Trademark. For example, an ice cream stand on the beach in Portugal can have its name protected throughout the EU – and thus prevent ice cream stands with the same name in Greece, even if the ice cream stand never expands beyond its own beach. This is now causing major difficulties in finding names.

Legal Fees

Our costs for the trademark search and legal representation in the trademark application depend on the complexity of the trademark application. For example, a trademark application may also raise questions under competition law, which must also be examined.

Our trademark protection packages are ideal for most trademarks of start-ups and small businesses.

Select Your Preferred Appointment Now:Free initial consultation

Great Britain

Union trademarks originally also included the EU member Great Britain. However, Great Britain has no longer been a member of the European Union since the Brexit came into force on January 31, 2020.

As a transitional solution, the EU and Great Britain agreed that EU Union trademarks would continue to be valid in Great Britain until December 31, 2021.

As of January 1, 2021, the British Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) is converting all existing Union trademarks into equivalent national British trademarks free of charge. These national British trademarks have been entered in the trademark register of the British Intellectual Property Office with the same owner, filing date and priority right as the original Union trademark.

Important: This means that not only the EU Union trademark, but also the national British trademark must be extended in good time before the trademark expires if it is to be maintained in the future.

Pending application procedures, including those that have already been accepted but not yet formally registered, were not automatically adopted. If validity of the trademark was also desired in Great Britain, there was the possibility until September 30, 2021 to apply for the same trademark additionally in Great Britain. In this case, too, the trademark retained the filing date and priority of the Union trademark application.

Since January 1, 2021, EU Union trademarks have therefore no longer been valid in Great Britain. Instead, a national British trademark application must be filed with the British Intellectual Property Office UKIPO or (more simply) an international trademark application with scope of application Great Britain with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Select Your Preferred Appointment Now:Free initial consultation

European Non-EU States

Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, San Marino, Switzerland, Serbia, Ukraine and Belarus are also not part of the European Union. The EU Union trademark is not valid in these states.

Instead, a national trademark application or (more simply) an international trademark application with a corresponding scope of application must be filed in each case.

Switzerland in particular is a very attractive country for web shops in Germany and Austria. Three-quarters of Swiss people speak German and can therefore be reached without translation costs. In addition, goods and services in Switzerland are considerably more expensive than in Germany and Austria, which is why the Swiss like to shop here.

Select Your Preferred Appointment Now:Free initial consultation

Alternative: International Trademark

As an alternative to the Union Trademark, it is conceivable to register an international trademark designating the most important countries.

This alternative is particularly useful if the prior search reveals that there are serious obstacles to a Union Trademark in the form of previously used trademarks in individual EU countries.

Select Your Preferred Appointment Now:Free initial consultation