1. The applicant submits an application for Italian trademark registration

The application materials submitted by the applicant must be in Italian. The Italian trademark registration application materials include the trademark, trademark displays, and designated products. Or service category (Italy adopts Nice Classification), rights holder information, document delivery address in Italy, priority documents (if any), etc. Trademarks can be applied for online or by submitting application materials to UBIM or to any Italian Chamber of Commerce. Applicants who do not have a business office or residence in Italy should entrust an agent to carry out the application process.

2. The Italian Patent and Trademark Office reviews the application materials

The Italian Patent and Trademark Office shall review the Italian trademark registration application materials submitted by the applicant to ensure that other registration conditions are met ("Industrial Trademark Office" Articles 148, 156, and 170 of the Property Code). After the Italian Patent and Trademark Office submits an examination opinion, the applicant should respond within the specified time and make corresponding modifications and supplements, otherwise the application will be rejected. If the application is rejected, the applicant may appeal to the review committee within the Italian Patent and Trademark Office.

3. Public application

If there are no problems after review, the Italian Trademark and Patent Office will publish the applicant’s trademark registration application in the Patent Gazette within 3 months from the day of publication. , any prior right holder may file an objection to the trademark applied for registration. The Italian Patent and Trademark Office will notify the applicant of the objection, and the applicant and the opponent can reach a settlement within the specified period. Otherwise, the Italian Patent and Trademark Office will make a final decision based on the materials submitted by both parties. If both parties are dissatisfied with the final decision of the Italian Patent and Trademark Office, both parties can appeal to the internal review committee of the Italian Patent and Trademark Office.

Within 2 months after the application is published in the Patent Gazette, any relevant person may also submit a written opinion to the Italian Patent and Trademark Office explaining the reasons why the trademark applied for registration does not meet the registration conditions. If the Italian Patent and Trademark Office considers the opinions to be relevant, it will notify the applicant of the opinions and the applicant shall respond.

4. Registration

After the application is made public and goes through the opposition procedure and submission of opinions procedure, if the Italian Patent and Trademark Office confirms that there are no problems, it will issue a registration certificate to the applicant and make the registration public. Registered trademarks are effective retroactively to the date of application.

Any interested party may file an invalidity lawsuit and apply for cancellation of a registered trademark that does not meet the registration conditions, such as lack of or subsequent loss of distinctiveness, malicious application, violation of law or public ethics, or Technical functions, infringement of others’ prior rights, etc. In addition, if a trademark has not been put into use for five consecutive years from the date of registration, others may file a lawsuit to cancel the registration. After the Italian trademark registration is approved, the trademark owner can also apply for abandonment.