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.

Michael Kyprianou & Co LLC has a leading Intellectual Property practice advising and assisting clients in relation to both contentious and non-contentious IP matters. If you need any advice in relation to Intellectual Property rights, please contact Agis Charalambous, Senior Associate, at +357 22447777 or agis.charalambous@kyprianou.com