Thanks to the online services of the German Patent and Trade Mark Office (DPMA) and the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), among others, the application process for a new trade mark has become extremely simple from a technical point of view. This makes it tempting to apply for your own trademark “on the spur of the moment”. Unfortunately, this often goes wrong, so that in the end the official fees are paid but the trademark is not effectively registered.
No refund of fees
The trademark offices charge different application fees for the examination of a trademark application. Currently, for a German trademark incl. three classes at the DPMA is € 290.00. For an EU trademark incl. three classes is currently € 1,050.00 at the EUIPO. Higher fees are charged for an application in paper form. These fees are NOT refunded by the respective offices if the application fails. Therefore, if the office concludes during its examination that the sign applied for is not registrable, you are left empty-handed. However, the requirements for a successful trademark registration can be checked in advance so that the risk of rejection (and the associated financial loss) can be reduced.
After the application is before the application
Once the trademark has been registered by the Office, other trademark owners have three months to file an opposition against the registration. If, for example, the trademark or the associated goods or services are identical or similar to a previously registered trademark, the respective trademark owner can oppose the new registration and demand cancellation. These overlaps are NOT examined by the respective office at the time of registration. It is therefore the applicant’s responsibility to carry out this examination BEFORE registering the trademark in order to avoid surprises later on.
Don’t save in the wrong place
Even though the technical process of applying for a trademark is now simple, you should not be tempted to take a naïve approach to trademark applications. Examining absolute grounds for refusal and searching for existing identical and/or similar trademark registrations increases the chances of a successful registration immensely.