Oppositions

Opposition online filing allows you to file a notice of opposition against a European Union trade mark or international registration, send the associated attachments and complete the necessary payment details via the EUIPO website.

Once the online form has been submitted, an opposition number will be allocated to your request.

The system will automatically perform a preliminary check of your notice of opposition as part of the admissibility check in order to identify any deficiencies in the information provided. EUIPO examiners, however, will perform a complete check on oppositions for which admissibility cannot be checked automatically.

Please consult our Guidelines for more information on the admissibility check. 

Steps to fill in an Inter Partes Opposition form:

• General information

  The online version of the notice of opposition is divided into the following sections:

  • Reference
  • Type of action
  • Opponent(s)
  • Representatives
  • Challenged entity
  • Grounds & basis for opposition
  • Arguments and evidence
  • Payment of fee
  • Signature

  The system will only allow you to submit your notice of opposition if the mandatory fields have been completed. Mandatory fields are marked with a red asterisk *.

  Type in your reference

  

  This section is optional.

  The opponent or representative acting on behalf of an opponent may create their own reference number, which must consist of no more than 30 characters and may be any combination of letters, numbers and/or symbols. It should not include any spaces.

  Select the type of action

  
• Opponent
  

  This section is mandatory. You must provide details of at least one opponent.

  If the opponent has already filed a European Union trade mark or design application or an opposition notice with the EUIPO, they will have an EUIPO ID number. If you know this number, enter it in the text field, select it from the autocomplete list and click on ‘Import’; the remaining fields will be populated automatically.

  If the opponent has no EUIPO ID number, you will have to complete all the necessary opponent information by first selecting the type of opponent from the drop-down menu under ‘Create new opponent’. An opponent can be either a legal entity or a natural person. The mandatory fields listed below will need to be completed:

  For natural persons (Applicant type is Individual(s))

  • First name
  • Surname
  • Nationality
  • Country
  • Street address
  • Town/ City

  For legal entities (Applicant type is Business/Company)

  • Legal name
  • Legal form
  • Country of registration
  • Country
  • Street address
  • Town/City

  Legal Entity
  Where the opponent is a legal entity, its official name must be indicated, including its legal form, e.g. ‘Incorporated’, ‘Sociedad Anónima’, ‘Aktiengesellschaft’, etc. The legal form may be abbreviated in the customary manner, e.g. ‘Inc.’, ‘S.A.’ ‘AG’, etc. The country where the legal entity has its seat must also be indicated.

  Natural person
  Where the opponent is a natural person, the surname, first name and nationality must be indicated.

  We strongly recommend that you provide as much contact information as possible (postcode, telephone numbers).

  If the opposition has more than one opponent, additional opponents can be added by selecting the type of opponent from the same drop-down menu. Once opponents have been created, you can view, edit and delete them by clicking on the appropriate action buttons in the table of opponents.

  Remember to click on the button ‘+Add’ to include the selected or newly created opponent into your form.

• Representative

  If none of the opponents has its domicile, principal place of business or a real and effective commercial establishment within the European Economic Area (EEA), they must be represented by a professional representative in all proceedings before EUIPO.

  A list of representatives can be found on the EUIPO website.

  An opponent may elect a representative even if they have their domicile, principal place of business or a real and effective commercial establishment within the European Economic Area.

  If the representative has previously been allocated an EUIPO ID number, enter this number in the text field, select it from the autocomplete list and click on ‘Import’; the remaining fields will be populated automatically.

  If the representative does not have an ID number, all fields will have to be completed manually. In order to create a new representative you need to select the type of representative from the drop-down menu under ‘Create new’. A new representative can either be a legal practitioner or an employee representative.

  Legal practitioner
  Where the representative is a legal practitioner, the surname and first name must be indicated. A legal practitioner may optionally be linked with an existing association of representatives. If you already know the association’s ID number, enter it in the text field, selected from the autocomplete list and click on ‘+Add’. The name of the association will be uploaded to the form. Alternatively, you can fill in the ‘Name of association’ text field manually. You can search for an association’s ID number by clicking on the ‘Consult eSearch plus’ link.

  Employee representative
  If the representative is directly employed by the opponent, it is sufficient to give their name and surname. When the employee representative works for a company (with a real and effective establishment in the European Economic Area) that has economic connections to the opponent, the name of the company and the nature of the economic connections must be specified.

  We strongly recommend that you provide sufficient contact information, including name, address, telephone number and an email address.

  There is also the option to create an EUIPO representative in which case a message will inform about the further examination to be carried out by EUIPO prior to its addition to the list of EUIPO professional representatives.

  Once the representative information has been completed click on ‘+Add’ in order to include it in your application.

• Challenged entity
  

  You must specify whether your opposition is to be directed against a European Union trade mark (EUTM) application or an international registration (IR).

  Please indicate the number of the EUTM application or IR that you are challenging and click on the ‘Import entity’ button; if the EUTM application or IR is ‘open to opposition’, the details will be automatically populated. If the EUTM application or IR is not ‘open to opposition’, a message will be displayed and the opposition cannot be created.

  The language of the opposition proceedings must be chosen in accordance with Article 146 of the European Union Trade Mark Regulation. It must be one of the two languages of the challenged application, provided that this is one of the five officially recognised languages of the EUIPO. Once the EUTM application has been selected, the acceptable opposition languages will be displayed (if the first language is not one of the five officially recognised languages of the EUIPO, it will not appear as an option).

  The ‘Extent of the opposition’ field refers to the goods and services against which the opposition is directed. The field ‘Against all goods and services’ is selected by default.

  If the opposition is directed against only a selection of the goods and services of the EUTM application or IR, select the second option, ‘Against part of the goods and services in the application, namely:’, and specify which ones are challenged. You can remove whole classes and/or terms from one class. To delete an entire class, click on the cross (X) on the top left of the class. To delete part of a class, select the items to be deleted by clicking on them or using the drag & drop mouse option, this action will display a new button ‘Remove selected words’, click on it to delete the selection from the class. To revert to the original version click on ‘Reset’.

• Grounds for Opposition
  

  Upon selecting an article under which to add grounds, an option will appear to add the basis of Opposition.

  A notice of opposition must include at least one ‘basis of opposition’.

  

  The table below lays out to which grounds the basis of opposition are applicable:

  Ground	Basis of opposition
  Article 8(1)(a) Article 8(1)(b)	EUTM application, National TM registration/application, international registration, international application, well-known trade mark (Article 6bis of the Paris Convention)
  Article 8(5)	EUTM application, National TM registration/application, international registration, international application
  Article 8(3)	EUTM application, National TM registration/application, National TM registration/application outside the EU, international registration, international application, well-known trade mark (Article 6bis of the Paris Convention), non-registered trade mark
  Article 8(4)	Non-registered trade mark, other sign used in the course of trade
  Ground	Type of representation
  Article 8(6)	Word

  After selecting the appropriate basis of opposition, you will need to complete all of the indicated mandatory fields and select ‘+Save’.

  The information inserted will then appear in a table as the one below. A basis of opposition can be deleted by clicking on the ‘Delete’ action represented by a cross (x) in the table next to the element that you want to remove. Several bases of opposition can be included in the same notice of opposition, this can be done by clicking on the ‘+’ button in the table next to the element to which you wish to include an additional basis.

  
• Arguments and Evidence
  

  .

• Signature

  This section is mandatory.

  You must ‘sign’ the electronic notice of opposition before final submission by indicating your name, surname and capacity in the appropriate fields on the electronic form.

  You have the option of adding a second signatory by selecting ‘Add second signatory’. A maximum of two signatures is allowed. By providing the signature information, you confirm that you have checked the details and wish to sign and submit the application form.

• Payment of fee

  This section is mandatory.

  The opposition fee must be received by EUIPO within the opposition period.

  If the opposition fee is received after expiry of the opposition period but payment instructions to the bank were given within the last 10 days of the opposition period, under the terms of Article 8 of the Community trade mark fees Regulation the opposition can be saved if:

  • the opponent files evidence of having issued payment instructions within the last ten days of the opposition period, AND
  • the opponent pays a surcharge of 10 % of the opposition fee (double condition).

  However, this surcharge will not be payable if the person can prove that the payment instructions to the bank were issued more than 10 days before expiry of the period for payment. If the opposition fee is not received within the opposition period, or if the provision mentioned above does not apply, the notice of opposition is deemed not to have been entered.

  EUIPO will not issue a request for payment.

  Please note that payment of fees must be made in euros.

  More information on the EUIPO’s fees and payment for trade marks.

• Submitting the form

  Your opposition form is checked for any data anomalies or missing information; if there are any problems, an error message will appear.

  Once the form information is valid you will be redirected to the confirmation page containing all the application details that you are about to submit. You can still modify the data before submitting it.

   

• Save, Print and Reset
  

  You can ‘Save’ the Opposition form in your ‘User Area’. As you are completing your application form, you can save your work at any time as a draft. Click on ‘Save Draft’ in the right-hand column of the form. The draft can be accessed from the ‘Drafts’ section in your User Area.

  ‘Save form data in XML’ will allow you to export the information in XML format and to re-use it later on by using the option ‘Import data from XML’

  ‘Print’ a review of your form at any point during the application process. You are strongly recommended to review your notice of opposition before submitting it. Please be aware that, at this stage, you have not yet submitted your notice of opposition. This printed copy will therefore not be considered as evidence of submission.

  ‘Reset’ — if you want to start your application again, click ‘Reset Form’ and all your previously completed fields will be cleared and the information deleted.

  To finally submit your opposition form, click on ‘Next’. You will be directed to the payment platform and after entering the payment details you will receive confirmation that the process has been completed successfully. The opposition number will be displayed, which you will need to use as a reference in any further communications with the EUIPO as well as the date and time (Central European Time) of the submission. There will also be a ‘Download receipt’ button from which a pdf is generated containing the receipt of application, payment instructions as necessary and the notice of opposition itself.

  We strongly recommend that you print or save the application receipt as the EUIPO will not issue any further copies of it. Only eCommunication users will receive a copy of it in the Communications inbox of their User Area.

  We also recommend that you check to ensure that the number of attached files coincides with the number of files you uploaded.