How to Register a Trademark in Ireland: IPOI Steps, Timeline and Irish vs EU Trademark

To register a trademark in Ireland, you file one application with the Intellectual Property Office of Ireland (IPOI), which protects the mark in the Republic of Ireland only, or with the EUIPO, whose EU trademark covers Ireland and the other 26 member states. The IPOI checks your mark against earlier Irish and EU marks itself, publishes it in its fortnightly Journal, and gives third parties 3 months to oppose. With no objection and no opposition, the IPOI says registration normally takes around 6 months, and the mark lasts 10 years from the filing date. Every applicant needs an address for service inside the European Economic Area, which is why clients abroad usually register their trademark in Ireland through a local representative.

Verified in October 2026 against the Trade Marks Act 1996 and Trade Marks Rules 1996 as amended, the IPOI website and its 2025 Annual Report, and EU Regulation 2017/1001. Procedures change; each step below names its source.

Irish trademark or EU trademark: which one you need

Two registrations give you protection in Ireland. An Irish national trademark is filed with the IPOI and covers the Republic of Ireland. A European Union trademark (EUTM) is filed with the EUIPO and covers Ireland plus the other 26 member states with one registration. Irish businesses use both: in 2025 the IPOI received 3,328 national applications, while Irish residents filed 1,876 EU trademark applications. The two routes differ in more than territory:

Point	Irish trademark (IPOI)	EU trademark (EUIPO)
Territory	Republic of Ireland only	All 27 EU member states, Ireland included
Does the office search earlier marks and object on its own?	Yes. The IPOI searches the Irish and EU registers and cites conflicting marks	No. An earlier mark stops you only if its owner opposes
Opposition period after publication	3 months, cannot be extended	3 months
Earlier rights that can block you	Irish marks, EU marks and international registrations covering Ireland	Earlier rights in any of the 27 member states
If a problem exists in one country only	Not applicable	The whole EU application fails (all-or-nothing), but it can be converted into national applications
Address for service	Must be in the European Economic Area	Applicants outside the EEA can file alone but must be represented in every later proceeding (art. 119)
Duration	10 years from filing, renewable	10 years from filing, renewable
Covers the UK and Northern Ireland?	No	No (not since 1 January 2021)
Our page	Register a trademark in Ireland	Register an EU trademark

An Irish trademark makes sense when Ireland is your only EU market, or when a search shows a conflicting mark elsewhere in the EU that would sink an EU application. Under the EU Trade Mark Regulation, a mark registered in a single member state is an earlier right against an EU application (art. 8), and a word that is descriptive in only part of the EU is enough to refuse it (art. 7(2)).

An EU trademark makes sense when you sell in several EU countries. If it is refused, it can be converted into national applications, including an Irish one, that keep the original EU filing date (art. 139), except in the country where the ground for refusal applies. If you already own an Irish registration, you can claim its seniority in a later EU trademark and keep your Irish date even if you let the national mark lapse (arts. 39-40). The wider trade-off is covered in our guide to national vs. international trademark registration.

Who can file in Ireland, and the EEA address rule

Any person or company can own an Irish trademark. The application form asks for nationality "only for statistical purposes". What matters is where the IPOI can send you official correspondence:

• An address for service in the EEA is mandatory (Trade Marks Rules, r.10(1)(a)). It can be your own address, your representative's, or another address, as long as it is inside the European Economic Area.
• A US, Canadian or UK address does not qualify. The IPOI FAQ names Canada and the USA as examples; the UK left the EEA on 1 January 2021.
• If you give no EEA address, the IPOI sends a notice and you get 2 months to supply one. After that, the application is treated as abandoned (r.10(3)).
• Who can represent you: an Irish registered trade mark agent, a solicitor, a barrister, or a person qualified to act before their own national IP office within the EEA.

Irish law does not force a foreign applicant to hire an agent. It forces an EEA address, and in practice an applicant based in the US, Latin America or Asia meets it through a representative. Our filings in Ireland run through licensed local attorneys, and all we need is a simple power of attorney: a signed copy, without notarization or legalization.

Before you file: what the IPOI checks, and what it does not

Ireland is different from Spain or the EUIPO here. The IPOI examines your mark on two fronts:

1. Absolute grounds: whether the sign can distinguish your goods or services, or is descriptive, generic, deceptive or otherwise barred by the Act.
2. Earlier marks: "As part of the examination process we carry out a search of the National and the European Union Trade Mark Databases," the IPOI says, and if it finds a similar or identical mark with an earlier date, "we will cite the mark and write to the applicant." The legal basis is rule 16 of the Trade Marks Rules.

A citation is not the end. You can restrict your list of goods or services, get the consent of the earlier owner, argue honest concurrent use (section 12), or wait for the cited mark to be surrendered or revoked.

Even so, a search before filing is still your job:

• The IPOI gives no advice before you file. Its own words: "We cannot therefore, provide a pre-filing examination service." Its citation arrives after you have paid the application fee.
• The official search is not everything. Unregistered rights, company names and earlier marks the examiner judges dissimilar can still come back as an opposition or, later, as an invalidity action.
• Goods and services cannot be added after filing. A clearance search shows how to word the list before it is fixed.

The IPOI database can be searched free online, and the IPOI also runs a paid official search on written request. Our trademark search in Ireland is the first step, and our Comprehensive Trademark Study adds an attorney-reviewed risk rating, delivered within one business day.

What the application needs

The IPOI gives a filing date once it receives four elements (Trade Marks Act 1996, s.38; Rules, r.12):

• a request to register a trademark;
• the applicant's name and address;
• a representation of the mark;
• the list of goods or services.

Other points that catch applicants out:

• Nice classes, worded clearly and precisely (s.39). Class headings are accepted only if they are precise enough.
• A statement of use or intent to use. You declare that the mark is being used, or that you have a "bona fide intention" to use it (s.37(2)). You do not have to prove use to register.
• Fees per class. The application fee is charged per class, the registration fee is a single fee, and the renewal fee has a per-class part. The IPOI publishes the statutory trade mark fees; we do not repeat the amounts because they change.
• Series marks. Up to 6 variations of the same mark can go in one application.
• Priority. If you filed the same mark abroad in the last 6 months, you can claim that date in Ireland; the certified copy is due within 3 months of the Irish filing.
• Filing online. 99% of Irish trademark applications were filed electronically in 2025.

EU-based small businesses should check the EU SME Fund before filing. Its 2026 call reimburses 75% of trademark application fees at the EUIPO and at national offices such as the IPOI, takes applications until 4 December 2026 unless the budget runs out first, and does not cover renewals. You apply for the voucher first and file after it is awarded, within the voucher's time limit.

The IPOI procedure, step by step

1. Filing. Online through IPOI e-filing, or on paper. The IPOI's target is a filing receipt within 2 working days.
2. Examination. The examiner checks absolute grounds and searches earlier Irish and EU marks. If there is a problem, you get a written objection and time to respond.
3. Publication. Accepted applications are published in the Journal of the Intellectual Property Office of Ireland, which comes out every two weeks.
4. Opposition period. Third parties have 3 months from publication to oppose on the basis of an earlier right. Anyone can also send written observations on absolute grounds, such as descriptiveness or bad faith, at any time before registration.
5. Registration fee. After the 3 months pass without opposition, or the opposition fails, the IPOI asks for the registration fee. You have 2 months to pay it.
6. Registration. The mark is entered on the register and the registration is published. Protection runs from the filing date.

Irish trademark deadlines at a glance

Stage	Deadline or time	Source
Claim priority from a foreign filing	Within 6 months of that filing; certified copy within 3 months of the Irish application	Act s.40; IPOI priority page
Supply an EEA address for service if missing	2 months from the IPOI notice, or the application is abandoned	Rules r.10(3)
First decision (acceptance or objection)	IPOI target: 90% within 40 working days. Achieved in 2025: 39% (72% within 60 working days)	IPOI Annual Report 2025
Opposition after publication	3 months, not extendable	Rules r.18(1), r.63(2)
Applicant's counter-statement to an opposition	3 months, or the application is deemed withdrawn	Rules r.18; IPOI opposition page
Pay the registration fee	2 months from the IPOI request	Act s.45(2)
Whole process without objection or opposition	"Around 6 months" (IPOI); our own estimate is about 12 months	IPOI FAQ
Term of protection	10 years from the filing date, renewable every 10 years	Act s.45(3), s.47
Renewal window	From 6 months before expiry	Rules r.38
Late renewal	Up to 6 months after expiry, with an additional fee	Act s.48(4); Rules r.39
Restoration after removal	Request within 6 months of the removal being published; granted only if the IPOI finds it just	Rules r.40
Use the mark	Within 5 years of the publication of the registration, or it can be revoked	Act s.51(1), s.16A

Why the gap between the IPOI's 6 months and longer real-world timelines? Demand jumped: national applications rose 42% in 2025, from 2,336 to 3,328, and the IPOI met its 40-working-day examination target for only 39% of them. If you need a registration by a fixed date, such as a launch or a marketplace brand registry, file early.

If someone opposes your application

Oppositions are rare in Ireland: in 2025, 47 were filed against 1,894 published applications. When one comes, the rules are specific:

• Only earlier rights. Since 14 January 2019, an opposition can rely only on relative grounds under section 10: an earlier mark, or another earlier right such as an unregistered mark protected by passing off. Descriptiveness and bad faith go through third-party observations instead.
• You must answer. You have 3 months to file a counter-statement. If you do not, your application is deemed withdrawn.
• Proof of use. If the opponent's mark has been registered for more than 5 years, you can require proof that it was genuinely used (s.43A).
• Time to negotiate. Both parties can jointly ask for a stay of 2 months to 1 year to settle (s.43(2B)).
• Evidence and costs. Evidence is filed as statutory declarations, and costs follow the event on an indicative scale.

Our filing service does not include opposition defence or replies to objections. If either happens, we quote the response separately before doing any further work.

After registration: renewal and use

Renewal. An Irish registration lasts 10 years from the filing date, because the Act treats the filing date as the date of registration (s.45(3)). You can renew from 6 months before expiry. If you miss the date, you have 6 more months with an additional fee. After that, the mark is removed, and you can ask for restoration within 6 months of the removal being published. You can also renew for only part of the goods or services. No documents are needed to renew; see trademark renewal in Ireland.

Use. If the mark is not put to genuine use in Ireland within 5 years of the publication of its registration, or use stops for 5 years in a row, anyone can apply to revoke it. The 5 years count from publication of the registration, not from filing. Revocation and invalidity actions can be brought before the IPOI itself or the High Court, so a challenge does not have to go to court.

Ireland, the UK and Northern Ireland

Brexit split the island for trademark purposes:

• An Irish registration protects the Republic of Ireland only.
• UK protection covers Northern Ireland, together with England, Wales and Scotland.
• Since 1 January 2021, an EU trademark no longer covers the UK, and a UK registration does not protect a mark in the EU or the EEA.

A brand selling across the whole island therefore needs two registrations: an Irish or EU mark for the Republic, and a UK mark for Northern Ireland. Ireland is also a member of the Madrid Protocol, in force since 19 October 2001, so it can be designated in an international registration.

What Protect.TM handles for an Irish trademark

Service	Ireland	Notes
Comprehensive Trademark Study (search and risk rating)	Yes	Attorney-reviewed, delivered within one business day
Application filing	Yes	Filed by licensed local attorneys; filing report with the application number
Priority claim	Yes	From a filing abroad in the last 6 months
Registration certificate	Yes	Delivered with a registration report
Renewal, including late renewal	Yes	Including the 6-month period after expiry
Replies to objections and opposition defence	Quoted separately	Not included in the filing service
EU trademark covering Ireland	Yes	EU trademark registration

Frequently asked questions

Do I need an Irish lawyer to register a trademark in Ireland?

No law requires one, but you need an address for service in the European Economic Area. If you are based outside the EEA, a local representative is the usual way to meet that rule and to handle IPOI correspondence.

Does an EU trademark protect my brand in Ireland?

Yes. An EU trademark has equal effect in all 27 member states, Ireland included. It does not cover Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK.

How long does an Irish trademark last?

10 years from the filing date, renewable indefinitely for 10-year periods. Renewal opens 6 months before expiry, with a 6-month late period after it.

Will the IPOI stop someone else registering a mark similar to mine?

Often, yes: the IPOI searches earlier Irish and EU marks and cites them against later applications. It is not a guarantee, so check the fortnightly Journal and oppose within 3 months if a conflicting mark is published.

Can I use the ® symbol while my application is pending?

No. Under section 94 of the Act, falsely representing a mark as registered is an offence, and any word or symbol that implies registration counts. Wait until the mark is on the register.

Ready to file? Start with a trademark search in Ireland, or go straight to trademark registration in Ireland with licensed local attorneys.