Trademark registration for a small EU brand
Trademark registration for a small brand in the EU should happen before your name and logo go on packaging, a van wrap or the sign above your door. In Slovakia it costs 120 euros if you file online, for the whole European Union it starts at 850 euros. This article explains when a national filing is enough, when the EU route pays off, and what to check before you pay anything.
Key takeaways
- A Slovak application at the Industrial Property Office costs 170 euros for up to three classes according to its fee schedule, and 50 euros less when filed electronically. Each further class is 50 euros.
- An EU trade mark covering all 27 member states costs 850 euros at the EUIPO for one class, 50 euros for the second and 150 euros for each class after that.
- Once the application is published, a three month opposition period runs. Until it ends, your mark is not registered.
- Protection lasts ten years from filing and can be renewed indefinitely.
- The most expensive mistake is not the fee. It is finding a conflict with someone else's mark after ten thousand labels have been printed.
What does a trademark protect, and what does it not?
A trademark gives you the exclusive right to use a sign for the specific goods and services you list in the application. It does not protect a word in general, it protects a word in a field. That is why two unrelated companies can happily share the same name if one sells coffee and the other does accounting.
This is where people get it wrong most often. Registering your company name is not a trademark. Owning the domain is not a trademark either. And the copyright in a logo your designer drew protects the drawing, not the brand as a commercial sign. We covered that difference in detail in our piece on who owns a logo made by an agency. In short: without a registered mark, in a dispute you can only argue that you used the name first, and that is slow and costly to prove.
How much does trademark registration for a small brand in the EU cost?
There are two realistic starting points for a small European business. The national route: in Slovakia, 170 euros covers three classes of goods and services, each additional class is 50 euros, and online filing cuts the fee by half up to a maximum of 50 euros, so you pay 120 euros.
The EU route: the EUIPO charges 850 euros for one class, 900 for two and 1,050 for three. That is roughly seven times the Slovak fee, but it covers 27 countries in a single application, in a single language, with a single deadline. Once you need protection in two or more countries, the EU trade mark is usually both simpler and cheaper than several national filings.
Classes come from the international Nice Classification, which has 45 of them: 34 for goods and 11 for services. A café that also sells its own roasted beans typically needs class 30 (coffee) and class 43 (food and drink services). If merchandise is planned, add class 25 (clothing). More classes are not automatically better. A mark you do not use for the listed goods for five years can be challenged for that part.
If you are weighing where to start, WIPO keeps a clear, practical guide to trademarks for small businesses that is worth ten minutes of your time.
When is one country enough, and when should you go EU wide?
A national mark is enough if you sell and operate in one country and have no plans to change that in the next few years. An EU mark makes sense when your online shop ships to neighbouring countries, when you are going on Amazon, or when you plan to expand into two or more markets.
There is a catch, though. An EU trade mark is a single, indivisible right. If someone successfully opposes it on the basis of an earlier mark in just one member state, say a small local brand that has existed there for years, you can lose protection across the whole union. That is why, with an EU filing, the search has to happen before you apply, never after. Outside the EU, the route is WIPO's Madrid System, where you extend a home application to further countries.
Here is the official EUIPO video that walks through an EU trade mark application step by step:
Why file before you print the packaging, not after?
Because the office will not protect you from an older mark on its own. When you apply, the EUIPO only checks whether your sign can be registered at all, meaning it is not purely descriptive or misleading. Conflicts with earlier marks only come up if their owner files an opposition, and they have three months from the publication of your application to do so.
Picture a typical launch schedule. The identity takes six weeks, packaging design another four, and the printer wants final files a month before the product hits the shelves. If you file on the day you sign off the print files, your opposition window closes long after the labels are already stuck on stock in the shops. When an opposition does arrive, you are not just paying a lawyer. You are relabelling your inventory, redesigning the pack and explaining it to your retailers.
On projects where we design product packaging or a full identity, we recommend a simple order: name search first, then the word mark filing, and only then final design and print. The search and the filing take days, not months, and they fit into any launch plan.
Word mark or figurative mark: which one first?
If you can afford one application, file a word mark. It protects the word itself regardless of font or colour, so it still covers you when you redraw the logo three years from now. A figurative mark protects a specific look, meaning a drawing, symbol or logotype in its exact form. Change it, and the old registration may not cover the new version.
A figurative mark is worth filing when the symbol is strong on its own, or when the word is so generic that it would never pass as a word mark. You cannot register "Best Bakery" as a word for bread. Combined with distinctive artwork you sometimes can, but the protection is weaker because it rests mostly on the artwork. A strong trademark starts with the name, not the logo, which is why we wrote a separate guide on how to name a company.
When is registering not worth it?
Honestly, not every business needs it right away. If you are a sole trader working under your own name and mainly selling yourself, paying to register "John Smith Carpentry" rarely makes sense. The same goes if you are still testing whether anyone wants the product and the name is a working title. Wait until you are sure. A trademark on a name you drop in six months is money thrown away.
And a second uncomfortable truth: a registered mark guards nothing by itself. No office watches the market for you. If you want the protection to work, you have to keep an eye on competitors and act yourself when something appears, often with a lawyer. A trademark gives you a strong argument, not a security guard.
What should you check before filing?
This takes one afternoon and saves the most money:
- Search the name in the free TMview database, where the EUIPO pulls together more than 100 million marks from national and EU registers. Look for similar sounding variants too, not only exact matches.
- Filter the results by the classes you want to cover. The same word in a completely different field usually does not matter.
- Decide who will own the mark: the company or the founder personally. When the business is sold or a partner leaves, this is exactly what the hardest arguments are about.
- Choose the three classes you actually trade in, or will within five years.
- If you are unsure about similarity, pay for an hour with a trademark attorney. It costs less than new packaging.
If you are building a new brand and want the name, logo and packaging to pass this check before anything is printed, take a look at how we handle creative and branding work, or simply get in touch. We do not give legal advice, but we can build the timeline so the trademark does not get forgotten.
Frequently asked questions about trademark registration
How long does trademark registration take?
In Slovakia, the office says in its FAQ that it usually publishes an application within 30 working days of filing, followed by the three month opposition period. Without complications, count on roughly six months, with oppositions well over a year.
Can I use the ® symbol as soon as I file?
No. The ® symbol is reserved for registered marks. While the application is pending you can use ™, which has no legal weight but tells the market you treat the name as your brand.
Do I need a lawyer to file?
For a national or EU application by a company based in the EU, no, you can file it yourself. An attorney is worth it for similarity searches, oppositions and filings outside Europe.
Is there any funding for registration?
Yes, every year the EUIPO opens the SME Fund, which reimburses part of trademark fees for small and medium sized businesses. For 2026, however, the EUIPO reports that the budget for the trademark and design voucher has already run out, so watch for the next round.
