Trademark Filing

What it does

You have decided to protect a mark. This technology turns that decision into a correct application. It collects the data once, checks it, and prepares it for the right office in the form that office expects. Nothing is filed without an attorney's sign-off. The choice of mark, classes, specification and territory stays the attorney's responsibility.

It sits at the end of trademark clearance, so the goods, services and jurisdictions you cleared are the ones you file. And it sits at the start of trademark registration, where we follow the application through to registration.

A filing with the EUIPO or the Benelux Office usually goes out within one working day, at a fixed fee. Outside the EU and the Benelux, we file through the Madrid System or through our network of correspondent firms worldwide.

Functions

Application drafting

The application starts as a working file: applicant details, the sign (word, figurative or combined), any priority claim, and the list of goods and services. The attorney can reopen and amend the draft until it is confirmed.

Goods and services from harmonised terms

For the EUIPO, goods and services are picked from the Office's harmonised terms, structured by the Nice classification. Harmonised terms avoid classification objections, and they are what makes an application eligible for EUIPO Fast Track. If your business needs wording the database does not have, the attorney decides whether the consequences of a custom term are worth it.

Validation

Before filing, the application is checked against the formal requirements: mandatory fields, representation of the sign, consistency between classes and fees. Errors the Office would raise later get caught now.

Filing at the EUIPO

Once you and the attorney have confirmed, the attorney files with the EUIPO. Always in this order: draft, validate, attorney confirms, attorney files. The filing receipt and application number are stored with the matter.

Pre-filled packages for the BOIP and WIPO

For the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property (BOIP), and for international applications under the Madrid System through WIPO, the technology prepares a complete pre-filled package: data, specification and annexes, in the form each office expects. The attorney reviews it and files once confirmed. For Madrid, the package builds on the base mark and the countries you chose to designate.

Handover to the docket

Once filed, the application goes into the docket with its dates. Examination, publication and the opposition period are then followed through our portfolio and deadline technology. A person confirms every computed date.

The attorney's checks sit at fixed points. Sign and classes are confirmed before validation. The specification is read line by line, because its wording defines the scope of the right. Territories and route are checked against your instructions and the cost overview. Only then is the filing released, and the system records who confirmed what, and when.

What goes in is simple: your instruction, the cleared sign, the agreed specification. What comes out is a validated draft, a filing receipt and a set of docket entries. If the attorney changes anything after validation, the draft is validated again, so the version filed is always the version confirmed. Nothing is ever sent on a schedule or on the system's own initiative.

What you receive

A filing confirmation with the application number and the filed specification, a copy of what was submitted, and an overview of what to expect next. The application also shows up in the client portal. What happens after filing is set out in the route from application to registration.

Where it is used

For new trademark applications at the EUIPO, the BOIP and through the Madrid System. Usually after a clearance, and always with a cost overview from the IP cost estimator. Also when an existing mark is extended to further goods or countries.