EU Trade Mark, Copyright & Logo Registration Process

The easiest way to start a new company formation

#1. Summary
#2. Why Register a Copyright or Logo in the EU?
#3. Benefits of Registering a Trademark in the EU
#4. Advantages of Registering a Trademark in the EU with Coddan
#5. What Can Stop a Trade Mark Being Registered in the EU?

The cheapest way to start a new company registration

#6. EU Trade Mark, Copyright & Logo Registration Process
#7. Our Experience With Community Trademark Registration in EU
#8. Registering a Community Trade Mark or Logo for an Existing Business
#9. Registering a Community Trademark in the EU With a New Entity Formation

The EU trade mark registration process

Registering a trade mark in the European Union (EU) rather than just within the United Kingdom offers a number of major advantages. While these benefits are considerable, however, the prospect of making the application may appear daunting. With an experienced limited company formation expert like Coddan, however, your business will find the process remarkably straightforward. Once acquired, an EU community trademark secures your branding in the world's largest economic area, a region of more than 350 million potential customers and some of the world's most important consumer economies.

Registering for an EU trademark is a process open to all nationals of EU member states. It is also open to nationals, residents and businesses in countries which are signatories to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. Countries with an equivalent level of trademark protection to the aforementioned groups may also register for a trademark of this kind.

The process involves making an application for a 'Community Trade Mark', or CTM, to either the British Intellectual Property Office or the EU's Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs), or OHIM, in Spain. The latter option is the more cost-efficient of the two, as the International Property Office charges an additional handling fee.

There is an online application form on the OHIM website, which can be completed electronically or printed, filled in manually and sent to Spain by post. It is also possible to create a form of your own. This is something which an experienced company like Coddan could do for a client.

Once our online EU trademark registration form is completed, the form will be sent to either the OHIM or IPO office for processing. The fees for processing a CTM request are to be paid in Euros only, and we are charging £1,800 for the Community trademark submissions. This covers up to one class of products - goods or services; and subsequent classes cost an additional £250.00 per class. Processing of these applications typically takes around 8-12 months.