How to Register a Trademark in Uruguay (DNPI): Steps, Deadlines and What Foreign Owners Need

To register a trademark in Uruguay, you file an online application with the Dirección Nacional de la Propiedad Industrial (DNPI, National Directorate of Industrial Property) of the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining (MIEM). The owner can file it, even from abroad, or an industrial property agent can, and a single application can cover several classes. The DNPI reviews the form, publishes the application in the Boletín de la Propiedad Industrial (Industrial Property Bulletin), opens 30 calendar days for oppositions, and then searches ex officio for earlier trademarks; according to the DNPI itself, an application with no oppositions or objections takes between 3 and 4 months. The trademark lasts 10 years and is renewable. Uruguay is not a member of the Madrid Protocol: the route is the national application. If you prefer that we handle it, you can register your trademark in Uruguay with Protect.TM.

Verified on 8 November 2026 with Law 17,011 on trademarks (text updated through Law 20,212 of 2023), Decree 34/999, the DNPI's Examination and Procedure Guide (2024 version), the official procedure page on gub.uy, the Code of Administrative Litigation of 2024, and the treaty lists of WIPO and the Hague Conference. Each row indicates its article. Official fees change every month with the indexed unit (UI), so this page does not publish amounts.

Trademark registration in Uruguay in 6 points

1. Where: at the DNPI of the MIEM, which in 2026 is called the National Directorate of Industrial Property and Software Registry. Everything is filed through the Online Filing System: the DNPI has been a paperless office since August 2018.
2. Who: the interested party, a registered industrial property agent, or an attorney-in-fact with sufficient power of attorney (Law 17,011, art. 90). The law does not require a foreigner to use a local agent; a non-resident foreigner opens their user account with a passport.
3. How many classes: one application can cover one, several, or all of the Nice classes. A fee is paid for the first class and another for each additional class.
4. Order: formal examination, publication, 30 calendar days for opposition, substantive examination with a search for earlier trademarks, and a decision.
5. How long it lasts: 10 years, renewable without limit for equal periods (art. 18).
6. Use: if the trademark is not used for 5 consecutive years, a third party can ask for it to be canceled (art. 19).

The steps before the DNPI, one by one

1. Search before filing. The DNPI has a free public database of trademarks and patents, the public file search. Since 24 January 2024, the phonetic search for prior marks is done only there, and since 2024 it has an image comparison tool for logos. If you prefer an analysis with a risk rating, you can search your trademark in Uruguay with us.
2. Prepare the application. The official page for the trademark registration procedure asks for the owner's name or company name, ID or RUT, nationality, domicile of record in Uruguay, the Nice classes and, if there is a logo, a jpg or tif file of up to 512 kB. After filing, you cannot change the sign or add goods: you can only limit them (arts. 31 and 32).
3. File and pay. The date and time are assigned when the application is filed with the proof of payment of the fee, and that date decides priority over other applications (Decree 34/999, art. 2; Law 17,011, art. 30).
4. Formal examination. The DNPI reviews the data, the payment and, if a representative is acting, the power of attorney. If there are objections, it gives a hearing of 10 business days; if they are not answered, the application is deemed withdrawn (Decree 34/999, art. 8).
5. Publication. The application is published only once in the Industrial Property Bulletin, which comes out every fifteen days. The publication price is paid separately from the fee (Decree 34/999, arts. 6 and 91).
6. Opposition. From the day after publication, 30 calendar days run for a third party to file an opposition (Law 17,011, art. 23).
7. Substantive examination. The DNPI searches ex officio for earlier trademarks: phonetic for word marks, phonetic and logo searches for composite and figurative marks. If it finds a conflict, it can oppose by itself until the decision (art. 22; Decree 34/999, art. 9).
8. Decision and certificate. With no opposition and both examinations passed, the DNPI grants the registration, issues the certificate and publishes the decision in the Bulletin (art. 35; Decree 34/999, art. 17).

The deadlines set by the rules

Almost all the deadlines in the application stage are peremptory: if they expire, the application is lost. Some are counted in calendar days and others in business days, and several guides confuse them.

Stage	Deadline	If it expires	Source
Cure missing requirements of the application	30 calendar days (90 for the priority document)	Deemed withdrawn	Decree 34/999, art. 3
Answer a formal or substantive objection	10 business days	Deemed withdrawn	Decree 34/999, art. 8; DNPI Guide 2024
File an opposition	30 calendar days from the day after publication	The third party loses that route; the nullity action remains	Law 17,011, arts. 23 and 27; Decree 34/999, art. 7
Answer an opposition (from a third party or ex officio)	30 calendar days; extension of up to half if requested with grounds	The deadline is peremptory and cannot be extended, except for that extension	Decree 34/999, art. 13
Evidence in an opposition	60 calendar days; then a hearing of 10 business days before a decision	Peremptory deadlines (Law 17,011, art. 36)	Decree 34/999, arts. 14 and 16
File stalled because of the applicant	30 calendar days	Deemed withdrawn without further proceedings	Decree 34/999, art. 92
Appeals for reversal and hierarchical appeal against the decision	10 business days from notification, filed together, signed by a lawyer	The decision becomes final	Constitution, art. 317; Code of Administrative Litigation, arts. 43 and 45
Nullity action before the courts	90 calendar days after exhausting the administrative route	The judicial route is lost	Code of Administrative Litigation, arts. 55 and 57

One change that many guides do not reflect: Law 15,869, which regulated appeals and the claim before the Tribunal de lo Contencioso Administrativo, was repealed by the Code of Administrative Litigation approved by Law 20,333 of 2024. Under the Code, a nullity claim against an act with particular effects, such as the decision on a trademark, goes at first instance to the Juzgados Letrados de lo Contencioso Anulatorio, with the Tribunal as the appeals court (arts. 19 and 20).

What an owner who lives outside Uruguay needs

In Uruguay the law does not require a foreigner to act through a local agent. Article 90 of Law 17,011 authorizes “the interested parties themselves,” registered agents, and attorneys-in-fact with sufficient power of attorney, and the DNPI Guide says that the application “can be filed by the applicant, without the need for a representative.” What is required, and worth keeping in mind:

• Domicile of record in Uruguay. The form asks for it, and if the owner has no agent, communication to that domicile counts as personal notification (Decree 34/999, art. 86). Hearings arrive in the online system user account with deadlines of 10 business days: someone has to read them on time.
• Power of attorney, depending on who represents. Before a registered industrial property agent, a private document signed by the owner is enough, and it is valid for 10 years (Decree 34/999, art. 76). Any other representative needs a power of attorney letter with notarized signatures and, if it comes from abroad, apostilled or legalized and translated by a public translator (official procedure page; Decree 34/999, art. 82). Uruguay has applied the Apostille Convention since 14 October 2012.
• Paris priority. Anyone who filed the same trademark in another country in the last 6 months can claim that date. The trademark must be identical “in the strictest sense,” and the priority document, if missing, is added within 90 calendar days (DNPI Guide; Decree 34/999, art. 3).
• No Madrid Protocol. Uruguay is not among the 117 parties to the Madrid Union in the WIPO list as of 8 July 2026, even if some site says otherwise. An international registration cannot designate Uruguay: the national application is required.
• Appeals with a lawyer. Filing the application does not require a lawyer, but appeals against a decision do (DNPI Guide 2024).

Industrial property agents are registered in a registry kept by the DNPI and, except for lawyers, must pass a proficiency exam (Law 17,011, arts. 92 and 93).

One application, several classes: how the fee is built

Uruguay is a “multi-class” system: one application can claim one, several, or all of the Nice classes, and the DNPI can grant or refuse the trademark partially, class by class (DNPI Guide 2024; Law 17,011, art. 34). Uruguay has been a party to the Nice Agreement since 19 January 2000, and the procedure page links to the 12th edition, 2025 version.

Item	How it is charged	Source
Application	One fee for the first class and another for each additional class, different for a word mark, composite or figurative mark, and other signs	Law 17,011, art. 99 (text of Law 20,212 of 2023)
Publication in the Bulletin	Separate price; the DNPI does not process the filing without that payment	Decree 34/999, art. 91
Opposition	Fee per class	Law 17,011, art. 99
Renewal	Fee per class, higher if renewed during the grace period	Law 17,011, art. 99
Discount	80% off registration fees with an SME certificate	Official procedure page
Adjustment	Fees are set in indexed units (UI) and are updated with the UI value on the first day of each month	Official procedure page

Classes 31 (agricultural products) and 33 (alcoholic beverages) also need a report from INASE or INAVI (Decree 34/999, art. 10).

Opposition and the search for earlier trademarks

In Uruguay there are two filters against similar trademarks. The first is opposition by third parties: it can be filed by the owner of a registered or pending trademark, anyone with a legitimate interest, and also anyone who has used an unregistered trademark for at least one year publicly and without interruption, who in that case must apply for their own registration within 10 days (Law 17,011, arts. 20, 23 and 24). The opposition must be substantiated from the start: the DNPI does not accept a form saying the grounds are “deferred.”

The second filter is the DNPI itself. After publication it searches for earlier trademarks and, if it finds a confusingly similar one, it can oppose ex officio “in defense of consumer rights” (art. 22). In both cases the applicant has 30 calendar days to answer. That is why it is worth searching before filing: a conflict that appears after paying the fee and the publication can end in a refusal for that class.

How long it really takes

The DNPI estimates that an application with no oppositions or objections takes “between 3 and 4 months approximately,” according to its March 2024 newsletter; it is the most recent official figure it publishes. With objections, oppositions or an appeal, the timeline depends on each file: an opposition adds at least 30 days to answer and 60 for evidence. Private studies in the SERP give figures that do not match each other, from 6 to 12 months and from 10 to 14 months, sometimes on the same page. If a provider gives you a much longer timeline than the official one, ask where it comes from.

The status of each application is tracked by its number in the DNPI's public database, and all decisions are published in the Industrial Property Bulletin (Law 17,011, art. 80).

After registration: term, renewal and use

Topic	Rule	Source
Term	10 years, renewable without limit for equal periods. The law does not say expressly from when; the use period counts from the grant. Confirm the expiration date in the file	Law 17,011, arts. 18 and 19
Renewal window	Within the 6 months before expiration	Law 17,011, art. 18
Grace period	6 months from the day after expiration, with a higher fee; the registration remains in force meanwhile. After that it lapses	Law 17,011, art. 18; Decree 34/999, art. 32
From when the renewal applies	From the expiration of the registration or of the previous renewal, not from the day it is requested	Decree 34/999, art. 34
Proof of use to renew	Not required	Law 17,011, art. 19
Cancellation for non-use	5 consecutive years without use from the grant or the renewal, or an interruption of more than 5 years. Use for one product saves the entire registration; the burden of proving use falls on the owner	Law 17,011, art. 19 (Law 19,149); Decree 34/999, art. 35
Well-known trademark	It is grounds for nullity of a later trademark; if the latter was registered in bad faith, the action does not lapse	Law 17,011, arts. 5 and 27

When renewing, the trademark cannot be modified nor can goods be added, and classes that are not claimed are considered waived (Law 17,011, art. 18; Decree 34/999, art. 33). If your registration expires soon, you can renew your trademark in Uruguay with us.

Checklist before filing

• Search the trademark by name and logo in the DNPI's public database, or request a feasibility study: the DNPI reviews earlier trademarks ex officio after publication.
• Define the Nice classes: you can request several in a single application, with a fee for each additional class.
• Decide who files: yourself, with an online system user account, or a registered agent with an authorization letter.
• If a representative who is not an agent signs, prepare the power of attorney letter with certified signatures and, from abroad, apostilled and translated.
• Provide a domicile of record in Uruguay and make sure someone reads the hearings: they have 10 business days.
• If you filed in another country in the last 6 months, claim priority with an identical trademark.
• Note the 10-year expiration date and the renewal window of 6 months before.

Protect.TM files your trademark in Uruguay starting with a feasibility study delivered in one business day: register a trademark in Uruguay. If your trademark is also going to other countries in the region, see the trademark registration in South America, our guides for Argentina and Paraguay, and the comparison between national and international trademark registration.