International trademark registrations
      Applying for a trademark in Finland

The purpose of a trademark is to identify goods and services offered for sale or otherwise distributed in the course of business activities. Trademarks must be marks that can be represented graphically, including a figurative mark, a word mark, a combination of word and figure, a letter mark, a number mark, a combination of letters and numbers, the shape of a product or of its packaging, or a sound.

An entrepreneur may obtain exclusive rights to a trademark through registration or through the trademark becoming established. A trademark is considered established if it has become generally known in the appropriate business or consumer circles in Finland as a symbol specific to the goods or services of its holder.

International trademark registrations

An entrepreneur may decide whether to protect the trademark abroad through applying for registration in each country, through a regional registration system (such as the Community Trademark) or with the international registration under the Madrid Protocol.

In the European Community the trademark can be protected by registering it in the Community Trademark system. The registration authority for Community Trademarks is the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) located in Alicante, Spain.

Applying for a trademark in Finland

Applications for trademark registration are submitted to the National Board of Patents and Registration in writing. A separate application must be filed for each trademark. The application must be signed by the applicant or his/her representative.

Applications may be made using the form available from the NBPR. The use of the form is not compulsory, however. You can download the application form here.

Preliminary examinations

The Marketing and Business Services Unit at the National Board of Patents and Registration carries out preliminary examinations on the registrability of trademarks and potential obstacles to the registration. The examination may be ordered from the NBPR trademark office in writing.

Information on trademarks registered in Finland, international trademarks valid in Finland and pending applications is available on the NBPR website. The site also contains a link to the OHIM website, which gives access to information on Community Trademarks.

Figurative marks and word marks may be examined at the NBPR Trademarks Unit or through the trademark database available on the NBPR website.

Application process

Applications for trademark registration are submitted to the National Board of Patents and Registration in writing. Application forms and instructions are available from the National Board of Patents and Registration, TE Centres and the NBPR website.

The registration cost depends on the scope of registration - that is, the number of product and service classes the trademark is to be registered in. The application fee is 165 Euro for an application in one to three classes (in 2004). The additional fee for each further class is  65 Euro per class.

The protection of the registration begins on the date of application. The registration is valid for 10 years from the date of registration, and may be renewed for 10 years at a time.

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