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Most of my clients are Irish and American, would you recommend the Irish & US or EU & US trademark?

Founder & Trademark Attorney

It depends on whether your commercial activity is likely to remain limited to Ireland or expand to other EU countries.

If Ireland is your only EU market and you have no plans to expand within the EU, an Irish trademark registration combined with a US registration is the more cost-efficient option. An Irish registration is cheaper than an EU trademark and provides the same protection within Ireland.

If there is a realistic possibility of expanding to other EU member states, an EU trademark registered with the EUIPO covers all 27 member states, including Ireland, through a single registration. The higher upfront cost of an EU trademark is offset by the fact that it provides broader protection and only requires one renewal rather than multiple national ones.

Related questions

Generic trademarks: the case of Booking.com

By definition, a trademark needs to display sufficient distinctiveness to identify the origin and ownership of the products and services. That means generic and descriptive words should be avoided at all costs. The landmark case in United States PTO v. Booking.com B.V, however, proves that a generic term combined with “.com” or another top-level domain can be registered as a trademark if there is sufficient evidence of consumer recognition.

Lindt secured another win for its chocolate bunny trademark in the EU

The Federal Supreme Court ruled that the gold-coloured foil-wrapped chocolate bunny from Lindt & Sprüngli can claim trademark protection against the competing product from Lidl. Lidl is no longer allowed to sell its rabbit because of the risk of confusion and must destroy existing copies of the product.

Should you trademark your domain name?

Intellectual property of a brand does not end with its name or logo, but can also cover domain name. If you want to reinforce your brand name and ensure visibility of your business online, you should consider trademarking your domain name.