Trademark search in the EU

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The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) offers businesses and individuals the opportunity to secure their trademarks across the EU member states, covering a market of over 500 million consumers.

To make sure your brand's name or logo doesn't violate any existing rights, a comprehensive trademark search is an essential first step in the application process. This protects your brand's distinctiveness within the EU in addition to assisting you in avoiding possible legal issues.

Around 150,000 trademark applications are submitted to the EUIPO each year. Nevertheless, a sizable portion of these applications are denied protection because they violate prior rights, don't follow the law, or have other problems found during review.

Conducting a proper trademark search can dramatically improve the chances of a successful application, saving both time and resources.

Importance of Trademark Search in the EU
Avoid Legal Disputes and Refusals
A trademark search helps identify existing trademarks that are identical or similar to your proposed mark. Ignoring this stage could result in disputes with trademark owners, legal issues, and the application being rejected, which would be a waste of time and money.
Uncover Potential Oppositions
Trademark searches allow you to identify existing rights holders who might oppose your application. This may allow you to resolve such disputes prior to they get critical, either by negotiating or changing your trademark.
Strategic Brand Development
A trademark search gives you information about the level of competition in your industry. You may better position your brand to stand out in the market by studying other trademarks.

Make a search in the EU database

Benefits of trademark searches with Pocket IP
All at once search the European Union IP Office trademark database and the international WIPO database.
Check brand name availability in the EU for free with our tool for free trademark searches in the EUIPO.
Search results can be saved for convenient future research (for registered users).
Request a search report analysis from our trademark specialists or download a search report in a convenient format and come to your own conclusions.

How to search for trademarks in the EU

Pocket IP provides a free tool for conducting searches in the EUIPO trademark database.

The data in our database is updated daily and fully complain with the current EUIPO applications and registrations lists.

The search results contain both data from the national database and the WIPO database with international trademarks.

You can create your own profile in the Pocket IP system or use the quick search function without creating a profile in the service.

The search can be carried out by:

  • Keyword
  • Application number
  • Trademark registration number
  • Trademark owner name
  • Applicant's name

Search results can be filtered and sorted by all parameters in the table.

For further tracking of a trademark, it must be added to the My objects list.

Analyzing search results

It's important to carefully evaluate the results of a trademark search after performing it.

The following steps will assist you in examining search results:

Check Similarity: Review trademarks that are identical or similar to your proposed mark. Look for matches in spelling, phonetics, or visual appearance. Pay attention to the Nice Classification and the items protected by the potentially opposed trademarks. Consider whether the goods or services of the existing trademarks overlap or target similar audiences.

Highly distinctive trademarks have stronger protection, while descriptive marks may allow room for new variations.

Live vs. Expired Trademarks: Pay attention to "live" trademarks that are still in use. Trademarks that are withdrawn or expired typically do not present a conflict.

Pending Applications: If a conflicting trademark is pending, consider monitoring its progress to evaluate its impact on your application.

Analyze Opposition and Cancellation History: Verify whether similar trademarks have been challenged or canceled. You can learn about possible weaknesses or negotiation possibilities from this history.

Pocket IP’s trademark attorneys and intellectual property consultants can help analyze complex conflicts and advise on strategies, including modifying your trademark.

Next steps after the trademark search

After analyzing the search results, you could consider:

- to file a new trademark application as you wanted before searches.

- introduce amendments to the initial trademark: edit list of goods/services, add image or original font, edit word part of a trademark, etc.

- change your brand completely to avoid possible legal issues based on identified similar trademarks.

    Contact with us

    FAQ

    You can check if a trademark is available for registration in the European Union through EUIPO’s eSearch Plus tool, which allows you to search for existing EU trademarks and applications; TMview, which is a global trademark search database that includes EU trademarks and many national trademarks; Pocket IP service, which contain all the databases and tools in one place.

    You can search for the trademark using various identifiers such as Trademark name, Application number, Trademark registration number, Trademark owner name, and Applicant’s name.

    Use filters to narrow down results, such as status, or class of goods and services.

    Click on the desired result to view the full trademark record.

    You can create an account with Pocket IP to set alerts and monitor changes to specific trademarks.

    An EU trademark (EUTM) provides protection across all 27 EU member states with a single application filed through the EUIPO, while a national trademark is registered in a specific country and protects the mark only within that nation’s borders. The EUTM is ideal for businesses operating in multiple EU countries, while national trademarks are better suited for local protection.

    The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) manages the European Union Trademark (EUTM), which provides trademark protection across all 27 EU member states.

    A single EUTM registration offers protection in the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden.

    If you have any questions, complaints, or feedback about the procedure or progress of the order, you can send a request to [email protected].

    In the request, you should specify the email by which the user is registered and the name of the task (if any).

    No, a UK trademark is not automatically valid in Europe after Brexit. A separate application must be submitted to the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) in order to protect a trademark in the EU.

    No, US trademarks do not automatically apply in the EU. To obtain protection in the EU, a separate trademark application must be filed with the EUIPO.