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The European Union Trademark (EUTM) registration system provides for a single registration covering all current and future country member states.
While EUTMs offer valuable EU-wide protection, they also carry procedural and practical risks. Filing a national Cyprus TM (CYTM) alongside your EUTM can provide significant strategic advantages:
- Reduced Opposition Exposure: Unlike EUTMs, which may face challenges from 27 jurisdictions, CYTMs only need to withstand review under in one jurisdiction.
- Easier Proof: To maintain an EUTM, genuine use must be demonstrated sufficiently across the EU. For CYTMs, use in Cyprus alone suffices.
- Practical Leverage: Given Cyprus's role as a strategic hub for trade, logistics, and corporate structures, a CYTM can exert significant enforcement pressure in practice.
Recommendation: Therefore, the wiser choice will be to proceed with a CYTM and at the same time file for a EUTM application. In the event that a EUTM application gets rejected, a registration in Cyprus will already be in place. The additional cost is insignificant compared to the resulting value in portfolio strength and ease of enforcement.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
