Trademark Registration in Spain: 7 Essential Steps

Spain is where Europe’s trademark system physically lives — the EU Intellectual Property Office sits in Alicante — yet many brands still get the national route wrong. Trademark registration in Spain can be done as a Spanish national mark, as an EU trademark covering all 27 states, or through the Madrid Protocol, and the right choice depends on where you actually trade. This guide sets out the filing steps at the OEPM, the deadlines that trip people up, and how to keep a Spanish mark alive once it is granted.

How Trademark Registration in Spain Works

There are three ways to secure a mark that protects you in Spain, and they are not interchangeable. A Spanish national trademark is filed at the OEPM (Oficina Española de Patentes y Marcas) and covers Spain only. An EU trademark (EUTM), filed at the EUIPO in Alicante, covers all 27 member states in one registration. The Madrid Protocol lets you extend an existing home mark to Spain or to the EU through a single international application.

The decision rule is simple. If Spain is your only European market, the national mark is cheapest and quickest. If you sell across the bloc, the EUTM is far better value than filing country by country. All three routes give a mark that runs for ten years and renews indefinitely — what differs is geographic reach and cost.

• National (OEPM) — protects Spain only; lowest official fee.
• EU trademark (EUIPO) — one filing, all 27 EU states.
• Madrid Protocol — extend a home mark to Spain or the EU.

One timing point governs all three routes. If you have already filed the same mark in another Paris Convention country within the last six months, you can claim priority from that first filing, so your Spanish application is treated as if it were lodged on the earlier date. That six-month window is easy to lose track of when a launch spans several markets, and losing it can hand an intervening filer a better right.

Step 1-2: Search, Then File at the OEPM

Before filing, run a clearance search. The OEPM does not refuse a new application because an earlier similar mark exists — so an identical or confusing prior mark will not stop you at the counter, but its owner can oppose you later. Screening for conflicts first is far cheaper than losing a contested application. Our opposition guide explains how those fights unfold.

You then file electronically through the OEPM, specifying the mark and the goods and services under the Nice Classification. The official fee for the first class online is modest — in the region of €150 — with a smaller fee per additional class. The application must be in Spanish. A representative is not mandatory for EU-based applicants, but non-EU applicants must appoint one.

Step 3: Examination on Absolute Grounds

The OEPM checks formalities and examines absolute grounds on its own initiative: a mark that is generic, purely descriptive, deceptive or contrary to public order is refused. What the office does not do is refuse your mark for conflicting with an earlier one — those relative grounds are left entirely to third parties through opposition.

The OEPM does notify the owners of earlier Spanish rights that a potentially conflicting application has been published, so they can decide whether to act. That notification is a courtesy, not a refusal — the burden to challenge stays with the earlier-rights holder.

Step 4: Publication and the Two-Month Opposition Window

Once it clears formal examination the application is published in the Official Industrial Property Bulletin (BOPI). Publication opens a two-month window in which anyone can oppose on absolute grounds, and owners of earlier rights can oppose on relative grounds. That two-month period is the single most important deadline in the whole process, and it is not extendable.

If no opposition is filed and examination raises no absolute-grounds objection, registration typically issues within roughly a year of filing. An opposition adds an adversarial phase and, naturally, time. This is why the up-front clearance search pays for itself: it tells you whether that quiet path is realistic.

Step 5: EU Trademark vs a Spanish National Mark

For many brands the real question is not how to file in Spain, but whether to file in Spain at all or to reach it through an EUTM. A single EU trademark is cost-efficient the moment you trade in three or more member states, and it is administered on Spanish soil at the EUIPO in Alicante. Its weakness is that it is unitary: a successful challenge or an earlier right anywhere in the EU can sink the whole registration.

A Spanish national mark is more resilient in that narrow sense — a problem in France or Germany cannot touch it — and it is the sensible choice for a business rooted only in Spain. If you already hold a home registration elsewhere, designating Spain or the EU through the Madrid Protocol can be cheaper still; our Madrid Protocol guide compares the numbers.

Step 6: Renewal and the Five-Year Use Rule

A Spanish trademark lasts ten years from the filing date and renews indefinitely in ten-year terms. Renewal is a formality — but keeping the mark enforceable is not. If you do not put the mark to genuine use in Spain within five years of registration, it becomes vulnerable to revocation for non-use, and a defendant you sue can raise that non-use as a shield.

• Term — ten years from the filing date.
• Renewal — indefinite, in ten-year periods.
• Use — genuine use in Spain within five years, or risk revocation.

Step 7: Cancellation Moved to the OEPM in 2023

A recent change reshaped Spanish trademark strategy. Since 14 January 2023, actions to invalidate or revoke a Spanish trademark are decided administratively by the OEPM itself, not by the civil courts — Spain’s implementation of EU Directive 2015/2436. In practice that makes cancelling a weak or unused mark faster, cheaper and more predictable than the old court route.

For a brand owner this cuts both ways. It is now easier to clear a blocking mark off the register before you launch, and easier for a rival to attack yours if you let it sit unused. Infringement litigation itself still runs through the commercial courts (juzgados de lo mercantil), with Alicante hosting Spain’s designated EU Trademark Courts for EUTM disputes.

Enforcement does not stop at the courtroom door. A registered owner can record the mark with the EU customs system so that Spanish Customs detains suspected counterfeit imports at the border — Spain’s Mediterranean ports and airports are a major entry point for fakes into Europe. Deliberate counterfeiting on a commercial scale is also a criminal offence under the Spanish Penal Code, which opens a route through the public prosecutor that runs in parallel with the civil claim. Choosing among civil, customs and criminal action — often in combination — is where a considered strategy earns its keep.

How PerspireIP Can Help

A Spanish mark is only as strong as the clearance work behind it. PerspireIP helps brands search, file and defend across Spain and the EU — and supports the wider portfolio with services in Madrid and Barcelona. Explore our Spain services hub or contact our team to protect your brand the right way the first time.

Frequently Asked Questions