Representative before EUIPO
If you have at least five years of experience as a representative in trademark applications before PRV, you can apply to become a representative before the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) in Alicante. That means you get the right to represent clients directly before the EU registration office.
The regulations for EUIPO representatives are set in Article 120.1-5 of the Regulation (EU) 2015/2424 of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Regulation (EC) on the community trademark .
What are the requirements?
According to Article 120.1 a natural or legal person may only be represented before EUIPO by:
a) a legal practitioner who has the right work in a EES member state and who runs an operation within the Community. The legal practitioner, however, needs to be qualified to act as a representative in trademark matters in the state in question.
b) an authorized representative found in the EUIPO list of professional representatives.
EUIPO’s interpretation of the Article 120.1 a is that a legal practitioner is equivalent to a lawyer in Sweden.
Representatives that are not lawyers must be part of the EUIPO list of professional representatives according to Article 120.1 b. Swedish representatives are required to be involved in applications, oppositions and the like before PRV for a minimum of five years. If a representative meet the requirements PRV will issue a certificate to be included in the representative’s application to EUIPO. However, EUIPO ultimately decides if a representative is eligible for the list of professional representatives.
You need to apply to PRV for representative certificate before the EUIPO and pay a fee.
Application for a representative certificate
In your application for representative certificate you need to show how you meet the requirements in Article 120.2 c regarding the five-year requirement. For instance, you can refer to a selection of applications, oppositions or renewals from a five-year period in an appendix to the application.
Application for a representative certificate before the EUIPO
For EUIPO to add a representative to the list of professional representatives the representative must submit an application to the EUIPO.
Forms and filings, EUIPO (external website)
The fee
You can find the fee for the application for representative certificate from PRV in the list of fees. Deposit the fee on PRV’s bankgiro 5052-6797. State the name of the applicant and type of application according to Article 120.3 of the Regulation (EU) 2015/2424 of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Regulation (EC) on the community trademark .
If PRV issues a certificate it is sent to the applicant so it can be attached to the their EUIPO application.