Trademark Protection Costs in Europe: Northern Europe

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Published on 25 September 2019

In one of our previous articles, Patent Protection Costs in Europe: Northern Europe, we illuminated the costs of protecting inventions and innovations (i.e., the costs of patent protection) in the Northern European economies of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. In this article, we shall delve into the costs of brand protection (i.e., the costs of trademark filing and registration) in the top Northern European economies.

Northern Europe

For the purpose of this article, the region of Northern Europe refers to the region encompassing the following countries and territories: Channel Islands, Denmark, Estonia, Faeroe Islands, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom, Åland Islands, Jersey, Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands, Nordic Countries, Baltic States, and Guernsey. This classification is in line with that followed by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations.

Trademark Filings in Northern Europe

In the year 2017, the National Intellectual Property/Trademark Offices of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom collectively received about 300,000 trademark applications, with about 60% of the total trademark applications being filed with the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office. Apart from the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office, only the Norwegian Industrial Property Office and the Swedish Patent and Registration Office received more than 20,000 trademark applications.

However, as the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, and the United Kingdom are also members of the European Union, European Union Trademarks registered by the European Union Intellectual Property Office are also valid in these jurisdictions. The European Union Intellectual Property Office received over 370,000 trademark applications in 2017. These figures are based on the numbers in the World Intellectual Property Indicators 2018 report published by the World Intellectual Property Organization.

How Much Does Trademark Protection Cost in Northern Europe?

Let us now discuss the costs involved in filing trademark applications in the top three Northern European economies (i.e., Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom) and, subsequently, getting them registered. Typically, there are three categories of costs involved: official fees, attorney charges, and translation costs.

The costs are generally dependent on the number of classes of goods and services under which the trademark application is filed. The current version of the 'International Classification of Goods and Services' (Nice Agreement Eleventh Edition – Version 2019) contains 34 classes for goods and 11 classes for services.

It is legally permissible to file multi-class trademark applications in all three jurisdictions. While a trademark registration in the United Kingdom is valid for ten years from the date of filing of the application, the duration of a trademark registration in Norway and Sweden depends on the date of filing of the application. For trademark applications filed before July 1, 2010, in Norway and January 1, 2019, in Sweden, the duration is ten years from the registration date. On the other hand, for trademark applications filed on or after July 1, 2010, in Norway and January 1, 2019, in Sweden, the duration is ten years from the application filing date.

Let us consider a trademark application for a word mark with a single priority claim that is to be filed electronically under four classes in the aforementioned jurisdictions. For instance, the applicant could be a beverages company wishing to register under Class 29 (Milk), Class 30 (Coffee and Tea), Class 31 (Beverages for Animals), and Class 32 (Non-Alcoholic Beverages and Fruit Beverages). We shall further consider that the goods are to be described on a single page, which is to be translated into Norwegian and Swedish.

The estimated costs of trademark protection under four classes in Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, from filing through registration, are approximately $5,200. The costs are based on the assumption that the applications get registered without any objections from the respective Trademark Offices, with no oppositions being filed after publication. As shown in Table 1, the costs are spread across the two different stages of the trademark process: Filing and Registration.

Trademark Filing Fees and Translation Costs

In the United Kingdom and Sweden, the estimated trademark filing costs are inclusive of the official fees for filing a trademark application in each additional class beyond the first class, the attorney charges for handling the trademark application in each additional class beyond the first class, and the attorney charges for handling the priority claim.

In Norway, the estimated trademark filing costs are inclusive of the official fees for filing a trademark application in an additional class beyond the third class, the attorney charges for handling the trademark application in an additional class beyond the third class, and the attorney charges for handling the priority claim.

Further, the trademark filing costs are also inclusive of the costs of translating the single page of the description of goods into Norwegian and Swedish, which are $121 and $113 respectively.

'Go Green' Incentives for Electronic Filing

The estimated trademark filing and registration costs are inclusive of the Go Green incentives offered by the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office and the Swedish Patent and Registration Office for filing the trademark application electronically.

The basic official trademark application filing fee charged by the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office for the electronic filing of a trademark application in a single class is approximately $223, while that for non-electronic filing is approximately $263. Likewise, the basic official trademark application filing fee charged by the Swedish Patent and Registration Office for the electronic filing of a trademark application in a single class is approximately $222, while that for non-electronic filing is approximately $299.

The Norwegian Industrial Property Office, on the other hand, does not offer any incentive for electronic trademark filing.

Trademark Registration Fees

None of the three jurisdictions charge an official fee at the trademark registration stage.

The Madrid Protocol and the International Trademark System

All three jurisdictions are members of the Madrid Protocol. The Protocol is administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization and facilitates the international filing and registration of trademarks in a cost-effective and streamlined manner in over 100 countries, with Canada being the latest to join the bandwagon on March 18, 2019.

A trademark registered under the Madrid Protocol is valid for ten years from the date of recordal of the mark in the International Register and can be renewed for successive ten-year periods.

International Trademark Protection Costs in Northern Europe

We shall now assume that a multi-class international trademark application designating Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom is to be filed under the aforementioned four classes with the United States Patent and Trademark Office as the originating office. For this scenario, the estimated costs of trademark protection are approximately $2,400. The costs are exclusive of the attorney charges for the filing of the international trademark application under the Madrid Protocol, and are based on the assumption that the applications get registered without any objections from the respective Trademark Offices, with no oppositions being filed after publication.

International Trademark Filing Fees

The estimated costs of filing the international trademark application under the Madrid Protocol are inclusive of the basic international application filing fee, the certification fee charged by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and the individual fees for the designation of Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

Further, the costs are also inclusive of the fees for filing in each additional class beyond the first class in Sweden and the United Kingdom, in addition to the fees for filing in an additional class beyond the third class in Norway.

International Trademark Cost Calculators

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Venkatesh Viswanath (Senior Content Strategist, Quantify IP) contributed to this article.
Exchange Rates Used: 1 U.S. Dollar = 0.76 British Pounds, 0.99 Swiss Francs, 8.41 Norwegian Krone, and 9.02 Swedish Krona
Note: The estimates and fees depicted in this article are based on the Official Fee Schedules as on January 31, 2019