Protecting your trademark internationally
Your national trademark application is only valid in Sweden. It is important that you register your trademark in all the countries where you sell or produce your good or service so as to be able to be alone in the market and not risk infringing on others’ trademarks.
There are three different paths to take to register your trademark in other countries. Here we describe the differences so that you can make the right choice.
Get a trademark that is valid in the EU
If you want to protect your trademark in the whole of the EU, in all its member countries, you send your application for registration of a European Union (EU) trademark to EUIPO, the European Union Intellectual Property Office.
Please contact EUIPO or PRV Customer support for more information.
The process when EUIPO reviews your EU trademark application (external website)
Get a trademark that is valid in large parts of the world
If you want to protect your trademark globally, in many parts of the world, you can apply for an international registration. The application is filed with WIPO, the World Intellectual Property Organization. You state in your application what countries your trademark should be valid in. In your application you can choose between more than 100 different countries and intergovernmental organisations (like the EU and BeNeLux).
However, to be able to apply for international registration, you must begin by making a trademark application either to PRV (Swedish Intellectual Property Office or to the EUIPO since your application to WIPO is based on that application.
Read more about international registration of trademarks
Get a trademark only valid in one country
If you want to have a trademark that will only be valid in one country in the world, you file your application direct with the intellectual property office in that country.
WIPO, directory of national Intellectual Property Offices (external website)
Priority
If you have applied for a trademark registration in Sweden, you can request priority if you apply for a trademark in another country within six months.
By doing so, you can also count the date when you filed your application in Sweden as the filing date for your new application for other countries. This can be an advantage if someone else has applied for the same or a similar trademark and a conflict of interest arises between you.