Does an EU trademark have to be used in commerce before registration?

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Written by Tomas Orsula

Senior Trademark Attorney

No, an EU trademark does not have to be used in commerce before an application is submitted. You are not required to submit any supporting evidence proving that you are selling in the EU at the time of filing or intend to sell in the EU market in the near future.

Naturally, you should not file a trademark registration simply to prevent others from being able to trademark a certain name if you do not intend to use that name in commerce.

However, if you want to secure and protect your brand name against copying in the EU market, feel free to submit your application even if you are not selling yet. Since the EU adopts a first-to-file system, you will gain priority right over anyone who will file an identical or confusingly similar application after you.

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