HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO OBTAIN THE REGISTRATION?

The trademark registration process can take a minimum of 8 to 12 months to complete (with no objection or opposition). However the trademark protection begins from the filing date.

Once you submit your application, we will review your data and payment, and if we will contact you by e-mail if we require additional information from you. We then file the trademark application in front of the trademark Office normally within 2 working days. Sometimes, the process can take longer if there are delays getting responses from clients or if there are further clarifications required.

All applications for the registration of a trademark in Italy are managed by Italian lawyers and trademark attorneys at Mericolegal IP Law Firm in Rome, Italy.

The procedure for obtaining the trademark registration in Italy is an examination procedure is administered by the Italian Patent and trademark Office (Ufficio Italiano Brevetti e Marchi – UIBM) which comprises three main steps:

a. UIBM Examination

Once we have filed your application with the UIBM, they will assign a “filing date” as of the date the application was received. The protection of your trademark begin from the filing date. A few months after the application is filed, an Examiner at the UIBM will review the application and determine whether the trademark may be registered. In particular, UIBM’s examiner performs an examination, which includes the formalities examination and the examination as to absolute grounds for refusal, especially goods/services classification and descriptiveness. UIBM will not examine relative grounds for refusal (trademarks already filed and registered as well as other third party earlier rights). See related section SEARCH for more information.

b. Publication and third party possible Opposition

The second part of the procedure is the publication of the application in so far the result of the examination has been positive. Once published there is a three-month opposition period. ‘Opposition’ is a procedure that starts before UIBM when a third party requests the Office to reject an Italian trade mark application invoking a previous trademark right (Italian, Community, International designating Italy). When an opposition is filed, the proceedings will include an exchange of observations from both the opponent and the applicant (the ‘parties’). After considering these observations, and if an agreement has not been reached between the parties, the Opposition Division of UIBM will decide either to reject the contested application totally or in part. If the opposition is not well founded it will be rejected. If the Italian Trademark Application is not totally rejected, and provided there aren’t other oppositions pending, it will proceed to registration.

c. Registration

In the absence of any objections or oppositions, the Italian Patent and Trademark Office will register the mark.  An application will be registered when the following conditions have been met: the UIBM examination of the trade mark has raised no objections or the objections raised have been waived; and either no opposition has been filed, or any opposition filed have been rejected.