International trademark: the Madrid System (WIPO) and the European Union trademark (EUIPO)

Your Spanish trademark registered with the OEPM only protects you in Spain. If you sell, manufacture or plan to expand to other countries, you need to broaden your protection, because trademarks are territorial: whoever does not register in a country does not have the exclusive right in that country.

There are two main routes. The first is the European Union trademark (EUTM) before the EUIPO, based in Alicante: a single application, a single title and unitary effects across the 27 Member States. The second is the Madrid System, managed by WIPO: based on a basic mark (your Spanish trademark, or an EUTM), you designate the countries where you want protection, among the 133 countries covered by its 117 members as of August 2026. The European Union can also be designated as a block within a Madrid System application.

The two routes are not mutually exclusive: it is common to combine an EUTM for the European market with an international application for the United Kingdom, the United States, China or other markets. Furthermore, if you applied for your Spanish trademark less than 6 months ago, you can claim the priority of the Convenio de París (Paris Convention) and keep that date in the international or European application.

The European Union trademark is a unitary right regulated by Reglamento (UE) 2017/1001 (RMUE, the EU Trademark Regulation): with a single application to the EUIPO you obtain protection in the 27 Member States, valid for 10 years and renewable indefinitely. Reglamento de Ejecución (UE) 2018/626 (the EU Trademark Implementing Regulation) provides for 11 types of trademarks (word, figurative, shape, position, pattern, colour, sound, motion, multimedia and hologram, among others) plus an open category for any other type, and accepts the 45 classes of the Nice Classification.

The online application official fee is € 850 and includes one class of goods or services; the second class adds € 50 and each additional class € 150. On paper, the base official fee rises to € 1,000. A collective or certification mark costs € 1,500 online. The base official fee is paid within one month of submission and is exempt from VAT.

The procedure has three phases: examination of absolute grounds for refusal (Article 7 RMUE [EU Trademark Regulation]), publication of the application and a 3 month opposition period in which any owner of a prior right can oppose. If no one opposes, registration is usually completed in about 4 to 6 months in total.

The Madrid System (Arreglo de Madrid [Madrid Agreement] of 1891 and Protocolo [Protocol] of 1989) allows you to extend a basic mark to the countries of your choice with a single application, in one language and with a single set of official fees. From Spain, the office of origin is the OEPM: form MM2 is submitted based on an applied for or registered Spanish trademark, the OEPM certifies the correspondence with the basic mark and transmits the application to WIPO. If WIPO receives it within the following 2 months, the international application retains the filing date at the OEPM. If your basic mark is a European Union trademark, the office of origin is the EUIPO.

The official fees have four components: the OEPM national official fee (€ 38.13 via the electronic headquarters, code ME06, or € 44.86 on paper, code MT03, according to the table in force since 1 April 2026), the WIPO basic official fee (CHF 653, or CHF 903 if the trademark has colour), a supplementary official fee of CHF 100 for each class from the fourth onwards and, for each designated country, either the standard complementary official fee of CHF 100 or the individual official fee set by that country (the United Kingdom, for example, applies CHF 240 for the first class from 1 April 2026). The exact amount is calculated using the WIPO fee calculator and is paid in Swiss francs.

WIPO only examines the formal requirements (about 3 months on average), records the trademark in the International Register, publishes it in the Gazette and notifies each designated office. Each country then examines the trademark according to its own law and has 12 months, extendable to 18 in many cases, to refuse protection in its territory. Where it does not refuse, the trademark is protected as if it were national. The registration lasts 10 years and is renewed with a single procedure before WIPO for all countries. If you need more countries later, they are added using the MM4 subsequent designation form.

The risk of the European Union trademark is its unitary nature: it is all or nothing. A prior right in a single Member State (for example, a similar national trademark registered in Czechia or Portugal) is enough to base an opposition that brings down the entire application for all 27. If this happens, the RMUE (EU Trademark Regulation) allows the application to be converted into national applications in countries where there is no conflict, keeping the filing date, although paying the national official fees of each country. This is why a prior search for earlier rights in TMview is so important before applying.

The risk of the Madrid System is dependency: during the first 5 years, the international registration remains tied to the basic mark. If your Spanish trademark is refused, annulled, expired or not renewed in that period, the international registration falls in all designated countries (the so called central attack). The Protocolo (Protocol) then allows the registration to be transformed into national applications in each country, within a period of 3 months and keeping the date, again with national official fees. After 5 years, the international registration becomes independent from the basic mark.

There is a practical difference in your favour in the Madrid System: refusals are country by country. If China refuses, you do not lose the United Kingdom or Japan. In the EUTM, however, a conflict in one country affects the whole. Managora analyses earlier rights before applying and proposes the structure with the least risk for your case.

Managora handles the entire file: we audit your basic mark and its seniority, define the Nice classes, carry out the search for earlier rights in TMview and Madrid Monitor, calculate the exact official fees with the WIPO calculator or the EUIPO table, draft the application (MM2 before the OEPM or EUTM application before the EUIPO) and submit it for you, monitoring publications, opposition deadlines and notifications from each office.

You can see the updated price of our professional fees on the page for each procedure: International trademark via the Madrid System (OEPM-WIPO) and European Union trademark application (EUIPO). The official fees of the EUIPO, WIPO and OEPM are paid separately and we detail them to you before submitting, with no surprises. Start the procedure online and you will have your file underway on the same day.