How to Register a Trademark in Chile (INAPI): Steps, Timeline and Rules for Foreign Owners

To register a trademark in Chile you file one online application with the Instituto Nacional de Propiedad Industrial (INAPI). A single application can cover several Nice classes and results in one registration that lasts 10 years and can be renewed indefinitely. INAPI reports that in July 2026 a new trademark application took 5.5 months on average, and 4.1 months when there were no objections or oppositions. Applicants who live outside Chile must, by law, appoint an attorney or representative in the country, and from 9 May 2027 an unused registration can start to be cancelled for non-use. If you want us to handle it, you can register your trademark in Chile with Protect.TM.

Verified on 1 November 2026 against the Industrial Property Law 19.039 (consolidated text, DFL 4/2022), Law 21.355 and its regulation (Decree 82, in force since 9 May 2022), INAPI’s practical trademark guide (November 2025), INAPI’s news release of 8 September 2026, the 2026 performance indicators that the Budget Office (DIPRES) sets for INAPI, and WIPO’s list of Madrid Union members. Each row names its source. Fees change often, so this page does not list them.

Chile trademark registration in 6 points

1. Where: INAPI, the only office that grants trademarks in Chile, online or at its office in Santiago.
2. How long: 5.5 months on average for new marks in July 2026 (4.1 months without objections or oppositions), according to INAPI.
3. Classes: one application can cover several classes and gives one registration, but each class is charged as a separate application.
4. Foreign applicants: must appoint an attorney or representative in Chile (Law 19.039, art. 2). A lawyer is only mandatory if there is a dispute, such as an opposition.
5. Deadlines that kill the application: 20 business days to order and pay the publication in the Official Gazette, and 60 business days to pay the final fees once the mark is accepted. Missing either means the application is treated as abandoned.
6. After registration: 10 years from entry in the register; a third party can seek cancellation of a mark that has not been used in Chile for 5 years, and the first registrations reach that point on 9 May 2027.

The steps at INAPI and their deadlines

INAPI’s procedure has a fixed order: formal examination, publication, an opposition window, substantive examination and final payment. The table shows each stage, the deadline that applies and what happens if it is missed. All deadlines in days under the law are business days and cannot be extended (Law 19.039, art. 11).

Stage	Deadline	If it is missed	Source
1. Application and first payment	Filed online with the mark, the owner and the goods or services; the first fee is paid on filing	The application is not processed	Law 19.039, art. 18 bis B; INAPI guide
2. Formal examination	INAPI checks the formal requirements and accepts the application for processing	INAPI asks for corrections; unanswered requests lead to abandonment	INAPI guide; INAPI glossary
3. Publication of the extract in the Official Gazette (Diario Oficial)	The applicant must order and pay it within 20 business days of acceptance for processing	The application is treated as abandoned	Decree 82, art. 13; INAPI guide
4. Opposition period	30 business days from publication	After that, third parties can no longer oppose the application	Law 19.039, arts. 5 and 11
5. Substantive examination	INAPI checks absolute grounds and earlier identical or similar marks on its own initiative	Refusal, which can be appealed within 15 days to the Industrial Property Court	Law 19.039, arts. 20, 22 and 17 bis B
6. Final fees	Within 60 business days of the decision accepting the mark for registration, per class	The application is treated as abandoned	Law 19.039, art. 18 bis B; INAPI FAQ
7. Registration	Valid for 10 years from entry in the register	—	Law 19.039, art. 24

How long it really takes: the official figures

INAPI published new processing times on 8 September 2026. In July 2026 the average time to process a new trademark was 5.5 months, 2.2 months less than a year earlier. For “clean” marks, those with no objections and no oppositions, the average fell to 4.1 months. INAPI attributes the drop to internal changes in its examination process, made while filings were rising: from January to July 2026 it received 29,787 multi-class applications, 18.17% more than in the same period of 2025 and the highest for those months since 2021. The ChileAtiende government portal still says “approximately 6 months”.

The fastest lane is in the first step. The 2026 performance indicators that DIPRES sets for INAPI target 97.8% of “ICPAS” applications receiving their formal examination within 10 calendar days (97.0% achieved in 2024). An application qualifies when all of these are true:

• It is filed through INAPI’s website or its bulk e-filing platform.
• The first fee is paid electronically and online.
• It uses only INAPI’s pre-approved descriptions of goods and services. INAPI’s guide warns that editing a description removes its pre-approved status and makes processing take longer.
• It does not claim Paris Convention priority.
• It is filed by an individual without a representative, or by a representative whose power of attorney is already lodged in INAPI’s power-of-attorney custody register.

A foreign owner whose Chilean representative has a power of attorney already in custody can therefore use the same fast lane as a local filer.

If you do not live in Chile

Requirement	Rule	Source
Local representative	Mandatory. People and companies resident abroad must appoint an attorney or representative in Chile. INAPI’s guide says the power must name a person resident in Chile, with their Chilean identity card number and address, who keeps representing the owner after registration	Law 19.039, art. 2; INAPI guide
Form of the power of attorney	A private document is enough. A power granted abroad can be signed before the Chilean consul with no further formality, or in the form of article 345 of the Code of Civil Procedure	Law 19.039, art. 15
Filing before the power arrives	Allowed: if the application names the representative, a foreign resident has 60 days to submit the power	Law 19.039, art. 15
Reusing a power	A power lodged in INAPI’s custody register gets a custody number that can be cited in this and future applications	Decree 82, art. 12; INAPI guide
Lawyer	Not required to file. Required in contested proceedings, such as filing or answering an opposition	Law 19.039, art. 5; INAPI FAQ
Priority	6 months from the first filing in the country of origin	Law 19.039, art. 20 bis
Madrid System	Chile has been a member since 4 July 2022, so a Chilean designation in an international registration is possible	WIPO, Madrid Union members (8 July 2026)

Whether a national filing or a Madrid designation suits you better depends on how many countries you need and on the base mark. Our guide to national vs. international trademark registration compares the two routes.

Before you file: the search and the substantive examination

Unlike the EU offices, INAPI refuses applications on its own initiative when they are identical to, or graphically or phonetically similar to, an earlier mark for the same or related goods or services (Law 19.039, art. 20 h, applied in the substantive examination of art. 22). A refusal comes months after filing, so the search is worth doing first. INAPI’s free database searches by exact name, “contains”, “starts with” and “ends with”, but not by sound or by image, so phonetic look-alikes slip through. You can search trademarks in Chile with us, or order a study that rates the conflicts before filing.

Chilean law protects words, names, letters, numbers, images, combinations of colours, sounds, smells and three-dimensional shapes (art. 19). Since Law 21.355, INAPI also counts position, pattern, touch, motion, multimedia and hologram marks among the “new types” of marks it tracks.

Oppositions: 30 business days and a lawyer

Anyone with an interest can oppose within 30 business days of publication in the Official Gazette. The opposition is a lawsuit before INAPI, which acts as a court of first instance, and both the opponent and the applicant need a qualified lawyer. From that moment the file stops being an administrative application and becomes a contested case. Two details matter for foreign owners:

• The deadline is strict: the law’s day deadlines are business days and cannot be extended (art. 11).
• If the opposition is based on an earlier registered mark, the applicant can counterclaim for cancellation of that mark for non-use in the same answer (art. 27 bis C). An old registration that has not been used is weaker than it looks.

INAPI’s first-instance decisions, with or without opposition, can be appealed within 15 days of notification to the Industrial Property Court (art. 17 bis B).

After registration: renewal and the non-use deadline of 9 May 2027

A Chilean registration lasts 10 years from its entry in the register. It can be renewed in the 6 months before it expires and up to 6 months after, with a surcharge of 20% for each month or part of a month after expiry; if it is not renewed, it lapses (arts. 24 and 18 bis B). Renewal is charged per class. You can renew a trademark in Chile through us.

The bigger change is use. Law 21.355 introduced cancellation for non-use: if a mark has not had real and effective use in Chile for 5 years after it was granted, anyone with a legitimate interest can ask for its full or partial cancellation. INAPI does not act on its own, and the owner must prove the use (arts. 27 bis A and B). The 5 years are counted like this:

Registration	When the 5 years start	Earliest possible non-use claim	Source
Granted on or after 9 May 2022	From the grant date	9 May 2027 for the first ones	Law 21.355; INAPI, 8 September 2026
Granted before 9 May 2022	From its first renewal after 9 May 2022	5 years after that renewal	Law 21.355, transitional art. 5

INAPI lists invoices, catalogues and web activity as evidence, and use by licensees or authorised distributors counts. There is no cancellation if the owner proves obstacles beyond its control, such as regulatory restrictions in the pharmaceutical or food sectors. If you hold a Chilean mark and are not selling under it, keep that evidence from now on.

How Protect.TM can help

We start with a registrability study, delivered within one business day, that rates graphic, phonetic and conceptual conflicts as low, medium or high risk. Licensed local attorneys then file your application, send you the filing report with the application number and date, and follow the file through to the certificate. We can file first and receive the simple power of attorney later. Oppositions and replies to office actions are quoted separately. To begin, register your trademark in Chile, or browse our trademark registration pages for South America. If you also sell in neighbouring markets, see our guides for Argentina and Paraguay.

Sources: Law 19.039, consolidated text DFL 4/2022 (BCN); Law 21.355 and Decree 82; INAPI, news release of 8 September 2026; INAPI practical trademark guide (November 2025); DIPRES, 2026 performance indicators for INAPI; WIPO, Madrid Union members as of 8 July 2026; ChileAtiende, form 1633.