How long does the opposition period last for a trademark application?
A trademark application is not immediately a registered trademark. After filing, the BOIP or the EUIPO publishes the application, and from that moment on, a fixed period begins during which other trademark owners can file an objection: the opposition period. Only once this period expires without an objection, or once any opposition has been resolved, is the trademark finally registered.
The exact duration of this period is published on the websites of the BOIP and the EUIPO themselves, and differs between the two offices. More important than the exact number of weeks is what can happen in the meantime: if no one responds, the application is finalized after that period. If someone does respond, a second, far less predictable phase begins, and this is usually the reason why a trademark registration takes longer than an entrepreneur initially expected.
What happens before the opposition period
Before the opposition period starts, the office first checks whether the application is formally complete: are the details filled in correctly, is the class classification correct, has the fee been paid. Only after this check is the application published, and only from publication does the clock run for third parties. This preliminary phase also has its own processing time, which varies by office and by the workload being handled at that time.
This is the phase where most delays are avoidable. An application with the wrong class classification, an unclear description of goods and services, or missing details leads to a notification from the office, and this correction round takes time that has nothing to do with opposition. An application that is correct at filing saves considerably more time in practice than a faster opposition phase would.
how an application is prepared depending on the situation
What happens if someone actually files an opposition
If another trademark owner files an opposition within the period, the application does not stop definitively but enters a separate procedure. At the EUIPO, this procedure typically first includes a period in which both parties can try to reach an agreement, followed by rounds in which evidence and arguments are submitted. At the BOIP, the process is similar, with its own deadlines set and communicated by the office itself.
This phase is precisely where the processing time most often runs over in practice. Parties frequently request extensions of deadlines, evidence rounds follow one after another, and if one of the parties does not respond, the office must still make a decision based on what is on file. An opposition procedure that lasts months is not an exception, and a procedure that ends in an appeal at the office takes considerably longer than the original application itself.
Why the period itself is not the greatest risk
Entrepreneurs dealing with a trademark application for the first time often focus their attention on how long the period lasts: how long must I wait before I can be sure my trademark is registered. This question is understandable, but the duration of the period itself is fixed and cannot be influenced by the entrepreneur. What can be influenced is whether an opposition is filed at all, and this is largely determined before filing: by checking whether similar trademarks are already registered in the same classes.
A conflict search in advance does not prevent someone from filing an opposition, but it does provide an indication of how likely it is. This is also precisely why monitoring after registration is so valuable: the same kind of scan that is done beforehand continues to run after registration against new applications from others, so an entrepreneur can respond in time themselves within the opposition period that becomes relevant to them.
find out in a few questions whether your name is available
Where this goes wrong in practice
The most common reason for delay is not the opposition period itself, but uncertainty about what the applicant is expected to do in the meantime. A letter from the office about a filed opposition requests a response within a set deadline, and anyone who misses it risks having their application rejected without substantive review of the case. This is not a matter of being right, but of responding on time.
For that reason, when an opposition is filed, we do not develop the file further ourselves: that is a legal assessment that requires a trademark attorney. What we do is alert you as soon as an opposition comes in, so the deadline does not pass unnoticed and there is still time to arrange that transfer.
see exactly which steps are taken and on the basis of which sources
In short
The opposition period itself is a fixed, published period that the applicant cannot accelerate. The processing time that comes on top of it in practice is determined by the quality of the application beforehand and by how quickly a response is made once an objection is actually raised. Anyone who wants to understand this before filing will find the fees and what is and is not included on the pricing page.
Would you like to know whether your trademark name or logo is likely to pass through the opposition phase without problems? Take the free quick scan or read more in the knowledge base on marcai.eu.