Trademark Registration in Italy

What is the difference between EU trademark and Italian trademark?

In Italy, you can apply for an EU trademark – that provides protection of the trademark in all member states of the European Union – or for an Italian trademark – that provides protection of the trademark only in Italy.

As opposed to Italian trademarks, EU trademarks have the advantage to obtain protection through the EU with a single procedure. However, the “weakness” of the EU trademark is that registration is either granted or denied for all EU members States. For example, if only one of the EU jurisdictions refuses the registration of a trademark, the application will be rejected also for all other EU jurisdictions.

This is why it is usually advisable to apply also for registration to at least one national trademark in addition to the EU one.

The application to register an Italian trademark can be is filed with the Italian Patents and Trademarks Office (Ufficio Italiano Brevetti e Marchi).

The application to register an Italian trademark filed by any Italian or foreign individual or company.

EU trademark registration

EU trademark is a single registration procedure that provides protection of the trademark in all member states of the European Union. Registration of an EU trademark is filed with the Office for the Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM, headquartered in Alicante, Spain).

Requirements and procedure

What are the main requirements and procedure to register and Italian trademark?

  • – Choose if you want to register a “name trademark” or “logo trademark”;
  • – choose classes of registration (the choice of the classes has to be made with particular care by consulting the Nice Classification);
  • – check whether the trademark is available and to assess the likelihood that the trademark registration will be successful;
  • – filing the trademark registration application with the OHIM or with the Italian Patents and Trademarks Office (Ufficio Italiano Brevetti e Marchi);
  • – if no opposition is filed by third parties, the trademark certificate is granted and a date of grant is assigned;
  • – before the trademark is granted, any holder of an earlier identical or similar trademark or anyone considering that the trademark application violates its own right, may file an opposition to the registration within three months from the publication date.

Contact us for more information about trademark registration in Italy and the EU

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