Trademark Registration

In 2016 we again saw a positive rise in the number of trademark applications direct to Norwegian Industrial Property Office from both Norwegian and foreign applicants.

Two ways to register a trademark in Norway:

File an application for registration directly to the Norwegian Industrial Property Office. Most Norwegian applicants file their applications in this way
Private individuals or companies connected to one of the member states of the Madrid Protocol, may, on the basis of a national trademark application or a national trademark registration, apply for registration in the other member countries. Over half of the trademark applications received by NIPO are designations via the Madrid Protocol.

The total number of trademark rights in Norway are a combination of these. A trademark registration lasts for 10 years and can be renewed for 10 years at a time.

Trademarks: figures for period 2014-2016

	2014	2015	2016
Trademark applications total	15450	16630	15702
- direct to NIPO from Norwegian applicants	3959	4097	4265
- direct to NIPO from foreign applicants	3008	3007	3302
- international designation in Norway via Madrid Protocol from Norwegian applicants	11	5	2
- international designation in Norway via Madrid Protocol from foreign applicants	8472	9521	8133
Decisions in trademark applications	16704	15656	15776
- registered trademarks	14516	13541	13294
- refused	174	139	143
- finally shelved or withdrawn	2014	1976	2339
Renewed	8717	10320	11944
Total number of registered trademarks in effect	207918	214449	217437

The reason why the total number of trademark applications was lower in 2016 than in 2015 is fewer designations through the Madrid Protocol due to a backlog at WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) in connection with the transition to a new computer system. We expect these designations to come in 2017.

More than 88% of trademark applications received normal approval, and 13 294 trademarks were registered in 2016. Roughly as many trademark applications were decided as new applications were received in 2016. This led to the number of trademark applications in processing at the end of the year being on a par with that in 2015.

You can find more statistics in our Statistic module

Case processing time

The target is for applicants for registration of trademarks at NIPO to receive a decision on their applications within 3-6 months. If there are no obstacles, the trademark is registered before this time limit is passed. Norway is one of the countries in Europe with the shortest processing times. Applicants who need faster decisions can ask for fast track processing. We measure average case processing time as the time from when the trademark application is filed until the applicant receives a response from NIPO.

In 62% of cases the outcome is that the trademark is registered without further correspondence with the applicant. At the end of 2016, case processing time was around 4.5 months for trademark applications filed directly at NIPO, and around 3.5 months for international designations in Norway through the Madrid Protocol.