How much it costs to register a trademark and the costs to keep it alive

Before knowing what are the costs to be incurred to register a trademark and to keep it alive, it is a good idea to make some observations.

When a company wishes to develop its business, not only in Italy but also abroad, registering its trademark is a duty. In fact, only through the registration of its trademark (or logo) for its products and services the company can have a level of protection which not would be otherwise possible.

Above all, if the company works also abroad, the registration of the trademark will allow it, for example, to strongly fight the frequent cases of counterfeiting affecting some markets.

Therefore, the cost for registering a trademark should not be considered as a lost, but as a very important investment!

But how much does it cost to register a trademark?

We are going to analyse each single step in order to understand more.

“Do it yourself” trademark registration? Not with an expert? Ahiahiahi!!

Basically registering a trademark costs the trademark filing fees, which vary depending on the number of classes in which you will register your trademark.

By way of example, we can say that:

• Registering a trademark valid in Italy in one class class € 101
• Registering a trademark valid in the EU in one class costs € 850
• Registering an international trademark costs 653 basic Swiss Francs (around € 583), plus the taxes of the country of the trademark on which the international registration is based, plus the fees of the States designated in the international registration.

Is it a lot? Is it few? Only you can evaluate it, on the basis of the value given to your business!!

However, you can take into consideration that the registration lasts in average 10 years, therefore you can consider the costs as divided in 10 years.

“Do it yourself” path in the registration of a brand

If you decide to do by yourself in every phase, your steps could be these (let’s take the example of a trademark registered in Italy):

• You create the brand or logo.
• You check on the internet in the official databases (UIBM, EUIPO, WIPO) that there is not an equal trademark in the classes of your interest and, in the event of a favourable outcome,
• You proceed with the filing of a trademark application to the Italian Patent and Trademark Office (UIBM) or at the Chamber of Commerce of your city.

But are you sure that this way of proceeding is the safest and cheapest?

The path above described hides dangerous pitfalls for those who are not very familiar with IP matter: first of all, it may happen that you create a banal trademark not suitable for your target; then, you may want to register a sign or a word that cannot be registered (for example because, although not identical, it looks similar to an earlier trademark); furthermore, the databases are not always updated or exhaustive.

In the light of the above your trademark, once registered, could be declared invalid by the competent authorities or it is possible that it is not registered at all because it is refused as a result of an opposition filed by a competitor of yours, with a waste of money, time and serious damage to your business.

We ask you to sincerely answer the following questions:

• Are you sure you have necessary skills to make everything by yourself in a such a delicate aspect for your business?
• Are you able to understand if the chosen brand is valid for registration purposes?
• Do you know how to correctly carry out a similarity search, ie correctly evaluate not only the identical trademarks but also the similar trademarks?
• Are you really able to identify with certainty the Nice classes and can you correctly indicate the products and services?
• Are you able to describe in detail the areas of protection of your brand?

If you are not sure  of the above, and if you really want to take care of your business, then it is better if you get in touch with an intellectual Property professional.

Now we explain why.

The added value of an expert in the cost of a trademark

There are two professionals who should be involved in such a delicate process:

• the graph
• the IP expert

The professional graphic designer will design your brand taking into account the targets of your business, your target audience in relation also to your competitors to create a unique and distinctive verbal and iconographic sign.

How much does it cost? Everything depends on what you want, which are your markets and your public. It is very likely that in addition to the brand you will have to start a path of brand strategy, but now we stop because the discussion could become very complex!

The expert in IP, dealing with trademark consultancy, will give you its advice in the intellectual property field.

First of all, he will verify whether your trademark can be registered and, through a study on your corporate objectives and target markets, he will advise you which kind of trademark it is better to register and where – as well as he will identify the classes.

The cost of a similarity trademark search

Now you are wondering: how much does a similarity trademark search for cost?
Unfortunately, precise costs cannot be given because each brand has its own characteristics, requiring different kind of searches: for example, the search could be only on the word making up the brand: in this case the search will be carried on in the word with reference to the identified classes. If you want to perform a search also on the graphic elements of the mark, the search will be much wider and more complex.

Moreover, if you want to register a trademark in the European Union or in other foreign countries, you will have to take into consideration more databases… In short, it is not possible to tell you here how much a trademark search can cost and giving you a costs would be not professional in view of the foregoing.

But you can ask your professional IP expert who will give you all the information you need in order to decide how to proceed!

Finally, the professional will take care of the entire trademark registration proceeding with the competent Authorities, allowing you to dedicate yourself only to your business!

Costs of a trademark after the registration

And after registering the trademark, will you have further costs? It would be better yes!

Trademark surveillance system

It is good to remember that a brand does not protect by itself … it is advisable that your professional expert in IP activate the surveillance service on the brand, which allows you to monitor the markets in which you have your business: in such a way you will be promptly informed if someone files the application of a trademark which is identical to or similar with yours, so that you can file ad opposition in order to stop the registration.

Speaking in general, time available for filing an opposition is very short (generally 3 months, but may be higher or lower), after which, it will be necessary to follow different paths, often with serious waste of time, energy and money. Also in this case the costs depend on the number of the classes and on the countries of interest.

Trademark renewal

After 10 years from the registration, it will be necessary to renew the trademark:  with your IP expert you will evaluate whether to keep all the classes and in which Countries.

Warning: often you do not receive notifications of the expiration of trademarks and, as a result , many companies can have trademark which are expired without knowing it!

This is another reason for consulting an IP expert who will monitor the trademark status and will inform you in time, avoiding the expiration of trademark or the payment of more taxes (when it is still possible to renew the trademark after the expiration date).

How much is a professional worth?

In the light of the above, you will note that the cost of an IP professional expert will never be an expense but it is an important investment.

Being assisted and advising in the process of registering your own brand and in the life of the brand will be one of the most wise and prudent “expenses” that you can do for the benefit of your business!

Build an ongoing and trusting relationship with him/her, and you will only be able to gain!

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© Photo Money: martaposemuckel da Pixabay