Trademark registration can be a lengthy process and applicants are often at the mercy of the examiners from Intellectual Property Offices. Trama, a legal-tech startup that provides global trademark registration services, has carried out an in-depth evaluation of the length of this process in various jurisdictions. Looking into the last 1,000 trademarks registered in 11 jurisdictions, this analysis provides a realistic estimate of how long it can take to register a trademark.

There are 2 main parts of the trademark registration process. The first part relates to the preparation of the application, including similarity screening, selection of goods & services, application drafting and filing. With a reliable partner, this part of the process can take as little as 3 days.

The second part of the process is however carried out by the Intellectual Property Office in the form of examining and approving the trademark application. This process starts with a formal assessment of the application, and continues with the publication of the trademark application for oppositions from existing owners of registered trademarks, leading towards the consequent registration and issuing a trademark certificate should no objections be raised. The analysis carried out by Trama has revealed significant differences in the length of this process across individual jurisdictions, ranging from 76 days in Benelux to 583 days on average in Canada.

While the sheer length of the administrative process can be rather off putting, it needs to be acknowledged that it is the date of filing the trademark application that defines the start of brand protection. In practical terms, although the owner of a trademark needs to wait until the trademark registration process is completed, they can effectively use the trademark to challenge any infringement attempts that occurred after the trademark application was filed. Alternatively, if two companies applied for a similar trademark, it is the date of filing that decides which of the applicants has the priority right.

Length of trademark registration process in the US

The average length of the trademark registration process in the United States is 391 days. As a result, United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is one of the three Intellectual Property Offices included in this evaluation that fails to process a trademark application within a period of one year. The standard deviation of 115 days also points towards a considerable level of variability in the process. The gradual increase in the length of this process over the recent years can be attributed to the growing number of trademark applications filed with the USPTO, highlighting apparent gap in its administrative capabilities.

Length of trademark registration process in the EU

On average, it takes 150 days to register a trademark in the European Union. The standard deviation of 89 days implies that the whole process may in fact exceed 8 months. In comparison to the registration in the US, the conduct of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) can be however still viewed as highly efficient, limiting the waiting period for trademark applications.

Length of trademark registration process in the UK

Average time to register a trademark in the United Kingdom is 141 days. With a standard deviation of 30 days, United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) stands out as one of the most consistent and most efficient Intellectual Property Offices included in this analysis.

Length of trademark registration process in Canada

On the contrary to the UKIPO discussed above, trademark registration process in Canada takes 583 days (on average). This is by far the longest period. Furthermore, the standard deviation of 136 days highlights a considerable volatility in the length of the process, revealing that it may easily take over 2 years to complete the process of trademark registration in Canada.

Length of trademark registration process in China

The average length of the trademark registration process in China is 289 days. The length of the registration process may however exceed one year due to a moderate level of variation in the process duration (standard deviation of 74 days).

Full details of the analysis have been published by Trama and can be access on the website of this trademark one-stop-shop.