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Filing a trademark
Depending on the country where companies are going to use and protect a trademark, three types of filings are available:
National trademark
A national trademark is registered and protected by the competent National Office in the country where it has been filed.
In Italy, the filing of a trademark is supervised by the Italian Patent and Trademark Office (UIBM).
EU trademark
Through the submission of a single application, it is possible to protect an EU trademark in all of the 28 Member States of the EU. In case of enlargement of the European Union, the protection will automatically be extended to the territories of new Member States.
Registration applications must be submitted only electronically to the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) based in Alicante (Spain). In order to file an EU trademark, it is not necessary that an identical national trademark has been previously filed.
International trademark
An international trademark is protected in one or more Madrid Union Signatory Countries which have signed both the Madrid Agreement and the relevant Protocol.
The registration procedure (Madrid System) is managed by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) based in Geneva.
In order to file an international trademark, it is mandatory to have previously filed either an identical national trademark or an identical EU trademark.
After filing a trademark, through the submission of a Territorial Extension Application, it is possible to extend the protection to further Madrid Union Signatory Countries.
The initial registration application and every following application related to the filing of an international trademark cannot be directly sent to the WIPO but must be previously submitted:
- To the National Office where the national trademark has been filed;
- To the EUIPO, if an EU trademark has been previously filed.
These offices will directly forward the applications to the WIPO.
The Madrid System allows to:
- Submit a single international application instead of various national ones;
- Submit the application in a single language (English/French);
- Pay the required fees in a single currency (Swiss Currency);
- Obtain an international registration that is recognized in various countries, both European and non-European;
- Extend the protection of the trademark to further Madrid Union Signatory Countries Union at a later time;
- Renew the registration of the trademark every ten years and submit any modification through a single procedure.
The protection of the trademark in countries that are not part of the Madrid Union can be obtained by filing the trademark in each country of interest, following the procedure required by each competent National Office, using the language and paying the fee established by national laws.
Priority
Within six months from the date of filing in one of the Member States of the Paris Convention, the holder can file the same application in one or more other Member States of the Convention. After the expiry of the six-month limit it is still possible to extend the protection outside national borders, but not to claim priority on the trademark.