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What is the dual system of trademark protection in the EU?

Written by Jan Buza

Co-founder of Trama

The EU operates a dual trademark system: brands can be protected either through a national trademark registered in a specific EU member state, or through an EU trademark registered with the EUIPO that covers all 27 member states.

A single national trademark only protects a brand within that country, and they’re administered by that country’s IP office specifically. An EU trademark covers all member states simultaneously through a single EUIPO registration. Both types of trademark coexist; neither displaces the other, and a brand can hold both a national trademark in one country and an EU trademark covering all 27 at the same time.

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