A trademark application in Uruguay is filed online at the DNPI, by the owner or an industrial property agent, and one application can cover several classes. This guide, checked against Law 17,011, Decree 34/999, the DNPI’s 2024 examination guide and the 2024 Code of Administrative Litigation, explains each step and legal deadline, the 30 calendar days for oppositions, the ex officio search for earlier marks, what foreign owners need without the Madrid System, powers of attorney, fees by class, the official processing time, renewal and non-use.
How Long Does It Take to Register a Trademark? Official Processing Times by Country
Written by Emily Brooks ·
How long it takes to get a trademark depends far more on the office than on the mark. With no objections and no opposition, the UK IPO says registration usually takes about 3 to 4 months, Mexico’s law caps the process at 5 months, Japan averaged 7.8 months, the USPTO’s total pendency was 9.53 months in the last quarter of fiscal 2026, and Canada averaged 34.5 months from filing to registration in its latest annual report. The table below gives 15 offices side by side, each figure with its official source and date, and links to the page where you can register your trademark in the United States or in any of the other countries listed.
Figures checked between 17 and 28 October 2026 against each office’s own statistics, service pages and trademark law. Every figure assumes an application with no objection and no opposition; each row names its source. Offices update these numbers several times a year.
Trademark registration times in 15 offices
Two kinds of figure appear below, and they are not the same thing. A legal or target figure is what the law or the office promises. A measured or stated figure is what the office reports actually happening, or what it tells applicants to expect.
| Office (country) | Legal limit or official target | Measured or stated by the office | Opposition window after publication | Source (date) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK IPO (United Kingdom) | — | Examination report within 2 to 3 weeks; about 3 to 4 months to registration if there are no issues | — | GOV.UK, updated 14 Oct 2026 |
| IMPI (Mexico) | 5 months maximum from filing without office actions or opposition | Government procedure sheet: 5 months | 1 month, cannot be extended | Industrial Property Law (LFPPI) art. 229 Bis, in force 4 Apr 2026 |
| INPI (Argentina) | — | 6 months without observations or oppositions; 60 days on the fast route (pre-approved class terms, no priority claim) | 30 days | INPI “Registrar una marca”, read 27 Oct 2026 (procedure in force since 1 Mar 2026) |
| OEPM (Spain) | 12 months legal maximum (20 with suspensions or oppositions) | “In practice” 6 to 12 months | 2 months | OEPM applicant manual (Jan 2024); Trademark Law 17/2001 |
| IPOI (Ireland) | Target: 90% of decisions within 40 working days | 39% of decisions within 40 working days in 2025; FAQ says “around 6 months” to registration | 3 months, cannot be extended | IPOI Annual Report 2025 (published 27 Aug 2026) |
| IP Australia | “At least 7 months” to registration, even if expedited | Examination usually 3 to 4 months after filing | 2 months | IP Australia, timeframes page (27 Oct 2026) |
| JPO (Japan) | — | 7.8 months average total pendency (first action 6.8), fiscal 2024 | — | JPO Status Report 2026 |
| IPOS (Singapore) | — | “About 9 months” without deficiencies, objections or opposition | 2 months | IPOS, How to register (3 Sep 2026) |
| CNIPA (China) | Examination within 9 months by law | No official measured figure found | 3 months; 2 months for marks published from 1 Jan 2027 | Trademark Law (2019 and 2026 revision) |
| USPTO (United States) | Target: 11 months total pendency | 9.53 months total pendency (11.17 including suspended files); first action 4.12 months, Q4 fiscal 2026 | — | USPTO Trademarks dashboard, updated 22 Oct 2026 |
| EUIPO (European Union) | — | Standard applications published 8 to 11 weeks after payment; no single official total | 3 months | EUIPO registration FAQ (27 Oct 2026) |
| INPI (Brazil) | 2026 target: 10 months to a decision | 18.3 months to a decision without opposition in 2025 | — | INPI Action Plan 2026, rev. 1 (May 2026) |
| CIPO (Canada) | Target: first examiner action within 14 months (since 1 Apr 2026) | 34.5 months average from filing to registration, 2024-25 | 2 months | CIPO performance targets (Oct 2026); CIPO Annual Report 2024-25 |
| CIPC (South Africa) | — | The CIPC does not publish an official processing time | 3 months, can be extended | Trade Marks Act 194 of 1993, s.21 |
| OAPI (17 African states) | — | No official figure found | 3 months | Bangui Agreement (Bamako Act), Annex III art. 15 |
A dash means we did not find the figure in a primary source; we would rather leave the cell empty than repeat an estimate. For several of these countries we have a full step-by-step guide: United States, Canada, Mexico, Spain, Ireland, Singapore, South Africa, Argentina and OAPI.
Why the numbers look so different
The spread between 3 months and almost 3 years is not only about workload. Three things change from office to office:
- What is being measured. The USPTO’s 9.53 months counts until registration, notice of allowance or abandonment and leaves out suspended files; with them, the figure is 11.17 months. Brazil’s 18.3 months stops at the examiner’s decision. Canada’s 34.5 months runs all the way to the registration certificate.
- Whether the law sets a deadline. Mexico (5 months, since April 2026), Spain (12 months) and China (9 months for the examination) write a limit into the law. The UK, Japan and Singapore publish what usually happens instead.
- Who looks for conflicting marks. Some offices search their register for earlier similar marks themselves; others leave it to the owners of those marks to oppose. That changes both the speed and the risk (see the table below).
The stages every application goes through
| Stage | What happens | What usually adds time |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Filing | You get a filing date and an application number | Missing data or fees (Spain gives 1 month to fix formal defects) |
| 2. Formal examination | Applicant details, class list, fees | Vague descriptions of goods and services |
| 3. Substantive examination | Is the sign distinctive? Is it allowed? In some offices, is there an earlier similar mark? | An objection: you get a deadline to reply (3 months in South Africa) |
| 4. Publication and opposition | Third parties can oppose for 1 to 3 months, depending on the office | An opposition can add many months or years |
| 5. Registration | Certificate; protection usually runs 10 years | In the US, intent-to-use applications also need a Statement of Use (about 4 more months after filing it, says the USPTO) |
The order is not the same everywhere. Spain and Mexico examine the substance after the opposition period; Argentina has examined before publication since 1 March 2026.
Does the office check for earlier similar marks?
| Office | Searches earlier marks itself? | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| EUIPO (EU) | No: earlier rights are only raised by opposition | Faster examination, but conflicts surface later |
| OEPM (Spain) | No: relative grounds only through opposition | Same as the EU |
| INPI (Argentina) | No longer, since Resolution 583/2025: only if the owner opposes | Searching before filing is now your job |
| IPOI (Ireland) | Yes, against the Irish and EU registers | An objection can come from the office itself |
| CIPC (South Africa) | Yes | Same as Ireland |
| IMPI (Mexico) | Yes | Same as Ireland |
Either way, a search before filing is the cheapest way to avoid the delays at stages 3 and 4.
Can you speed up a trademark registration?
Several offices have an official fast route. None of them skips the opposition period.
- Japan: accelerated examination brought the first action down to an average of 1.9 months from the request in 2025 (JPO Status Report 2026).
- Singapore: SG Trade Marks Fast gives a first report or publication in 3 to 6 weeks. It was suspended on 4 January 2026 and resumed for applications filed from 1 September 2026 (IPOS circulars).
- Argentina: about 60 days, according to INPI, if you use only pre-approved class terms and claim no priority.
- European Union: Fast Track, if you pay on filing and use only terms from the EUIPO’s harmonised database. The EUIPO does not publish a figure for it.
- Australia: you can request expedited examination for reasons such as a launch or a court case, but the minimum to registration stays at 7 months.
- Canada: expedited examination exists, with no fee, if you file an affidavit meeting one of CIPO’s criteria.
- United States: only a petition to the Director for special circumstances, such as risk of losing substantial rights. The USPTO states that starting an advertising campaign is not a special circumstance.
Filing through the Madrid System: the 12- or 18-month window
If you extend a trademark abroad through WIPO’s Madrid System, each country you designate examines it under its own law. The Madrid Protocol (article 5(2)) gives each office one year from WIPO’s notification to refuse protection, or 18 months if the country has made that declaration, and a refusal based on an opposition can arrive even later. In practice, a Madrid designation is not settled until that window closes. Our guide to national vs. international trademark registration explains when Madrid makes sense.
Are you protected while you wait?
- Your filing date is recorded at stage 1 (Spain records even the hour and minute, and Argentina ranks competing applications by day and hour). That date, not the registration date, is the one compared with later applications.
- Priority: under the Paris Convention, if you file in a second country within 6 months of your first filing, you can claim the first date there too (the Irish, South African, Chinese and OAPI rules cited in our country guides all apply this 6-month period).
- The 10-year term counts from the filing date in Australia and in the European Union, so the waiting time is not lost.
Do not confuse processing time with how long a trademark lasts once registered: that is a different question, answered in how long a trademark lasts.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to get a trademark in the US?
The USPTO’s total pendency was 9.53 months in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, with a first examiner action after 4.12 months on average (dashboard updated 22 October 2026). Files that were suspended or opposed take longer: 11.17 months on average.
Which country registers trademarks fastest?
Of the 15 offices in this table, the UK IPO states the shortest typical time (about 3 to 4 months without issues), followed by Mexico’s 5-month legal maximum and Argentina’s 6 months (60 days on its fast route).
Why is Canada so slow?
CIPO’s 2024-25 annual report gives an average of 34.5 months from filing to registration. Its target since 1 April 2026 is a first examiner action within 14 months, down from 18.
Does an opposition restart the clock?
It does not restart it, but it adds a separate procedure: in Spain, for example, the legal maximum goes from 12 to 20 months when there are suspensions or oppositions.
Choose the country and file
The fastest application is the one that needs no reply: a clean search, a precise list of goods and services and the right office. Protect.TM has a registration page for each of the countries above; start with the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom or Canada.
