Registering a trade mark in Cyprus: costs, steps and timing

A national Cyprus trade mark costs €129 to file online for one class of goods or services, plus €94 for every extra class, and it runs for ten years from the date you file. The application goes to the Intellectual Property Section of the Department of Registrar of Companies and Intellectual Property on form Ε.Σ 02. Budget several months rather than several weeks: the Registrar examines the mark, publishes it in the Official Gazette, and anyone who objects has three months to say so.

Your company name is not a trade mark

The same department runs both registers, which is exactly why people get caught out. Incorporating Acme Trading Ltd gives you a company name that nobody else can register in identical form. It does not give you the exclusive right to put ACME on a shopfront, a bottle or an app icon, and it will not stop a competitor registering that word as a trade mark for the goods you sell.

The two registers answer different questions. One asks whether the name is free on the companies index. The other asks whether the sign tells buyers who made the product. If the brand matters, you need both, and the trade mark filing usually follows shortly after incorporating the company.

What the 2020 overhaul changed

Cyprus trade marks are governed by the Trade Marks Law, Cap. 268, heavily amended on 12 June 2020 by Law 63(I)/2020, which brought the island into line with EU Directive 2015/2436. Anything you read about Cyprus trade marks written before that date is unreliable. The main changes:

• One application can now cover several Nice classes, possible since 18 June 2020. Before that, each class meant a separate filing and a separate fee.
• Protection runs for ten years, up from seven, counted from the filing date rather than the registration date.
• The opposition window went from two months to three, with a structured cooling-off period built into the procedure.
• Collective marks became registrable. Previously only certification marks were protected.
• Five years of non-use by the opponent can be raised as a defence in opposition proceedings.

One point to check before you assume you need an advocate. The department's guidance pages describe filing through the trade mark e-filing portal or by hand and post, with no mention of a lawyer, and practitioners writing after the amendment report that the mandatory advocate rule went with it. An older page in the department's own FAQ still says the application is filed by an authorised lawyer, which sits alongside the same page's claim that the opposition period is two months. Treat the FAQ as a relic and the guidance pages as current.

What gets refused

The Registrar examines on two fronts. Article 11 covers the absolute grounds: a sign that lacks distinctive character, that says nothing except what the goods are or their quality, quantity, purpose, value or geographic origin, that would mislead buyers about any of those things, or that consists of a religious symbol. "Paphos Olive Oil" for olive oil from Paphos is the classic refusal.

Article 14 covers earlier rights: marks identical or similar to national registrations, EU trade marks, and international registrations designating Cyprus. Cyprus is one of the offices that still runs this search itself and can refuse an application on that basis. EUIPO does not; there, earlier rights only bite if the owner turns up and opposes. So a Cyprus filing gets a free conflict check, and a nasty surprise arrives earlier and cheaper than it would in Alicante.

Run your own search first, through TMview for national and EU registers and Madrid Monitor for international ones. Both are free.

The procedure, step by step

1. 1Search. Check the Cyprus register, EU trade marks and international registrations designating Cyprus. A clash found now costs nothing.
2. 2File form Ε.Σ 02. Online it is €129 for the first class and €94 for each additional one. On paper it is €141 and €102. You supply a representation of the mark unless it is a plain word mark, and certified copies with Greek translations if you are claiming priority from an earlier foreign filing.
3. 3Examination. Formalities, then Nice classification, then absolute and relative grounds. If the Registrar raises an objection you get two months to reply, either with written observations (form Ε.Σ 04), by narrowing the list of goods and services (Ε.Σ 06), or by withdrawing (Ε.Σ 05). Miss the deadline and the application is rejected. A hearing can be requested in exceptional cases on form Ε.Σ 21, and a final refusal is challenged by recourse to the Administrative Court, which sits above this kind of decision in the Cyprus court system.
4. 4Publication. Accepted applications are published in the Official Gazette of the Republic.
5. 5Opposition. Anyone has three months from publication to oppose, on form Ε.Σ 14 with a fee of €348. Where the objection rests on earlier rights, the parties first get two months to settle, extendable to six if both ask. If nothing is agreed, the opponent substantiates the case on form Ε.Σ 16 within two months, and the applicant has two months to reply and can demand proof that the opponent's mark has actually been used.
6. 6Registration. If no opposition lands, or the opposition fails, the mark is entered on the National Trade Marks Register, published, and a certificate issues. Certified copies cost €14 and register extracts €10.

The fees, in one place

Legal fees sit on top. An unopposed filing is straightforward enough that firms commonly quote a fixed fee for it, while an opposition is billed by the hour and is where the real money goes. Our guide to what lawyers charge in Cyprus explains how Cyprus firms structure fees.

National, EU or international?

Three routes, and the right one depends on where you actually sell.

A national Cyprus mark protects you in the Republic only. At €129 it is the obvious choice for a restaurant in Larnaca, a local services business, or a brand you want on the register quickly and cheaply.

An EU trade mark covers all 27 member states, Cyprus included, for €850 online for one class, €50 for the second and €150 for each class from the third. Per country that is absurdly good value, but it is all or nothing: a single earlier right in any member state can be used to oppose the whole application. If you trade across the EU, this is usually the filing that matters, and the Cyprus registration becomes a belt-and-braces addition rather than the main event.

The Madrid System covers countries outside the EU. You file form MM2 in English, by hand or post, with the Intellectual Property Section acting as Office of Origin, and it must be based on a Cyprus application or registration. The fee depends on which countries you designate, how many classes, and whether the mark is in colour, so use WIPO's fee calculator rather than a rule of thumb.

EUIPO's SME Fund reimburses 75% of national and EU trade mark application fees up to €700 per business, which would cover a Cyprus filing several times over. The budget for each voucher round is finite and the trade mark voucher for 2026 was reported as exhausted, so check whether applications are open before you count on it.

Keeping the mark alive

Renewal falls due ten years from the filing date and must be made in the six months before expiry: €73 online for one class. Miss that and there is a six-month grace period at a 50% surcharge, after which the Intellectual Property Section strikes the mark off the register. Reinstating a lapsed brand is a great deal more expensive than a calendar reminder.

The other trap is disuse. Where a registered mark has not been genuinely used for five continuous years, any interested party can apply to the Registrar to have it revoked. The proprietor can defend by showing proper reasons for the gap, or by proving use resumed before the revocation application was filed. In practice that means keeping dated evidence of use, invoices, packaging, advertising, and applying only for the goods and services you sell rather than padding the list with classes you might want one day. A bloated specification is simply a bigger target.

Registering a brand in Cyprus? Search the register first, then put the specification and any earlier-rights conflict to an intellectual property lawyer from our directory before you file. Fees and procedure here are the position as at September 2026; confirm current figures with the Intellectual Property Section.