EUIPO: what it is and how to register an EU trade mark (2026)

That’s exactly what the EUIPO is for. It’s the office that protects your brand throughout the European Union with a single application, and it opens the door to programmes such as Amazon Brand Registry. If you’re planning to sell in several EU markets and wondering what the EUIPO is and how to register a trade mark with it step by step, this article breaks it all down.

What is the EUIPO?

The EUIPO, or European Union Intellectual Property Office, is the EU body based in Alicante, Spain, that registers EU trade marks (EUTMs) and industrial designs. A single application to the EUIPO protects your brand in all 27 European Union countries at once, from Poland to Portugal.

That’s a big difference from the Polish Patent Office (UPRP), which only protects a mark within Poland. If you sell or plan to sell on Amazon in Germany, France or Italy, a national registration won’t protect you there. Someone else could file an identical name in the German market, and they would have the law on their side, not you.

The EUIPO has been operating since 1994 (formerly under the name OHIM) and every year it receives more than 150,000 trade mark applications and nearly 90,000 industrial design applications. That shows the scale: EU registration isn’t a niche procedure for big corporations but a standard tool that thousands of businesses turn to every month.

How does the EUIPO differ from the UPRP and WIPO?

The EUIPO, the UPRP and WIPO differ above all in the territorial scope of the protection they provide. The UPRP protects a mark in Poland only, the EUIPO covers the whole European Union with a single application, and WIPO (the Madrid System) lets you extend protection to countries outside the EU, such as the USA, the UK, China or Canada.

In practice, these three routes don’t compete with each other – they complement one another. A business that sells only on Allegro in Poland will usually find the UPRP is enough. A business entering Amazon in several EU countries at once needs the EUIPO, because separate applications in each country would be both more expensive and more time-consuming. A business that also wants to sell on Amazon US or eBay UK, on the other hand, has to think about WIPO or go straight to the local office, such as the USPTO.

One important point: registration through WIPO always requires an earlier base application, for example with the EUIPO or the UPRP. You can’t start with WIPO straight away.

How much does it cost to register a trade mark with the EUIPO?

In 2026, registering a trade mark with the EUIPO costs from €850 for the first class, filed electronically. A second class costs an extra €50, and each additional class €150. The fee covers 10 years of protection across the entire European Union in one go.

It’s a one-off expense, but it has to be paid in full upfront and, unlike the UPRP, the EUIPO doesn’t refund the fee if the application is ultimately rejected. That’s why it pays to check the name’s availability in the EUIPO database (eSearch plus) before you file, so you don’t pay €850 for a mark that won’t get past a competitor’s opposition anyway.

Good news for 2026: since 2 February, a new round of the EU’s SME Fund has been open, allowing small and medium-sized businesses to recover 75% of the official fees for an EUIPO application, up to a maximum of €700. The grant application has to be submitted before you file the trade mark, and the refund usually reaches your account within 30 days of approval. For a business filing a mark in a single class, that means a real cost of around €212.50 instead of €850.

How do you register a trade mark with the EUIPO, step by step?

You begin registering a trade mark with the EUIPO by checking whether the name is available in the eSearch plus database, and you finish by paying for the application and waiting for it to be published. The whole process consists of several stages, which you can complete yourself online or hand over to a trade mark attorney.

1. Check that the mark is available. Search the EUIPO database (eSearch plus) and TMview for identical or similar marks already registered in your sector.
2. Choose your Nice classes. Decide in which categories of goods or services (out of 45 classes) you want to protect your brand. Don’t add classes ‘just in case’, as the office can revoke protection in a class in which you don’t actually operate.
3. Decide on the type of mark: a word mark (the name alone), a combined mark (name + logo) or a figurative mark (the logo alone). A word mark gives broader protection, but a combined mark can be easier to register if the name has little distinctive character.
4. File your application online. Applications are filed electronically via the EUIPO portal (User Area); this is the standard route and also cheaper than filing on paper.
5. Pay for the application. Payment must be received together with the application, otherwise the office won’t start the procedure.
6. Wait for the formal examination and publication. The EUIPO checks the application against the formal requirements and then publishes it in the EU Trade Marks Bulletin, which opens a three-month period for oppositions by third parties.
7. Receive your registration certificate. If no one files an opposition (or the opposition is rejected), the EUIPO registers the mark and issues a certificate of protection valid for 10 years.

At Raise Your Sales, we help clients get through the paperwork of the grant application, so that the voucher is awarded first time round rather than getting stuck at the corrections stage.

How long does it take to register a trade mark with the EUIPO?

Registering a trade mark with the EUIPO usually takes around 4–5 months if no one files an opposition. That’s the time from filing the application to the registration decision, and it covers the formal examination, publication and the three-month opposition period.

If a competitor or the owner of a similar mark files an opposition, the procedure can drag on for more than a year, because you then have to go through opposition proceedings. That’s why the first step from the previous section – checking whether the name is available – matters so much. It will save you not only money but also months of waiting.

For comparison: in our work at Raise Your Sales, we see that clients planning a product launch on Amazon should start the trade mark registration process at least 6 months before they intend to start selling with Brand Registry. That’s a safety margin in case of an opposition or formal deficiencies in the application.

The good news is that you don’t have to wait for final registration to get going with Brand Registry. Simply filing an application with the EUIPO gives you an application number, and that number is enough to enrol your brand in Amazon Brand Registry and start using its tools before the office issues its final decision. At Raise Your Sales, this is exactly the stage at which we help clients speed up their product launch: instead of waiting 4–6 months for full registration, you can run the EUIPO process and build your brand on Amazon in parallel.

Can you reduce the cost of registering with the EUIPO?

Yes – in 2026, small and medium-sized businesses can cut the cost of EUIPO registration by as much as 75% thanks to the EU’s SME Fund. The grant covers the official fees for a trade mark application, up to a limit of €700 per grant application.

There’s one condition, but it’s a crucial one: you have to apply for and obtain the voucher before you file your trade mark, not after the fact. In practice, the procedure works like this: first you pay for the application out of your own pocket, and once your grant application has been approved, the EUIPO refunds part of the costs to the account you specify. To a lesser extent, the programme also covers international applications via WIPO and national applications, for example with the UPRP.

For a manufacturer or distributor that is only just starting to build its own brand and is keeping a close eye on every cost of entering a new market, this is a concrete, measurable saving, not a marketing slogan. It’s worth factoring into your budget for expanding onto several platforms at once.

Why does an Amazon seller need an EUIPO trade mark registration?

An Amazon seller needs an EUIPO trade mark registration mainly in order to enrol their brand in Amazon Brand Registry. Without a registered or pending trade mark, Amazon won’t admit the brand to the programme at all, no matter how well the product sells.

Brand Registry isn’t a formality for its own sake. It gives you access to A+ Content, a Brand Store, protection against other sellers hijacking your listing, and the Vine programme, which helps you get your first reviews quickly. A brand without a registered trade mark is at a disadvantage on Amazon compared with a competitor who has already got this formality out of the way, even if the products are of identical quality.

How does an EUIPO trade mark open the door to Amazon Brand Registry?

A trade mark registered with the EUIPO is valid on all of Amazon’s European marketplaces at once (Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the other EU countries), so a single application is enough to secure Brand Registry across the whole continent. That’s more convenient and cheaper than registering the mark separately in every country where you plan to sell.

What are the most common mistakes when filing a trade mark application with the EUIPO?

The most common mistake when filing with the EUIPO is not checking whether the name is available before submitting the application. The result: an opposition from a competitor, a lost fee and a return to square one after several months of waiting.

The second common problem is badly chosen Nice classes: either too narrow (the mark doesn’t protect what you actually sell) or too broad (you pay more and risk a non-use challenge in that class after 5 years). The third mistake is filing a figurative mark instead of a word mark where what matters most is the name itself. A logo can change as part of a rebrand, but then it has to be registered all over again, whereas the name stays.

EUIPO or a national patent office – which should you choose if you sell in several EU markets?

If you sell, or plan to sell, in more than one European Union market, the EUIPO almost always works out cheaper and simpler than registering separately in each individual country. One application, one fee, one procedure – protection in 27 countries at once.

If you sell in several EU markets, a single EUIPO application replaces separate national registrations.

A national office such as the UPRP only makes sense if your sales are genuinely limited to Poland and you’re not planning to enter Amazon in Germany, Allegro in the Czech Republic or other EU markets in the next few years. The EUIPO is a bit like an Interrail pass for your brand: you buy one ticket and travel all over Europe with it, instead of buying a separate ticket at every border. The only difference is that this ticket is valid for 10 years, not a month.

Summary

Registering a trade mark is one of those decisions that don’t pay off immediately, but failing to make it always comes back to bite you at the worst possible moment: just when your brand is starting to sell well on Amazon and becoming worth copying. The EUIPO isn’t a box-ticking formality but the foundation for all your further expansion onto European marketplaces, from Brand Registry to protection against unfair competition.

If you’re building your own brand and thinking about selling in several EU markets at once, it’s worth planning your trade mark registration before your product starts selling, not after. We’d be happy to look with you at where you are now and how an EUIPO trade mark registration fits into your plan to join Amazon Brand Registry. Book a free consultation with Raise Your Sales and let’s talk about your brand protection strategy.