Hungarian trademark application AND REGISTRATION process

The timeframe for registering a Hungarian mark is approximately 5-6 months and renewal is due after 10 years. A Hungarian trademark may be extended with further 10-year periods, as many times as the applicant wishes.

Filing an application to the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office (HIPO)
The filing has to include an indication that trademark protection is sought, information identifying the applicant, a representation of the sign and a list of goods or services (has to be filed in Hungarian within four months after the date of filing). A filing fee has to be paid within 2 months following the filing date of the application.

Accelerated procedure
For an additional fee, the applicant may request accelerated or particularly accelerated trademark registration procedure within one month from the filing date. In the particularly accelerated procedure the HIPO registers the sign as a trademark simultaneously with the publication of the trademark application, with the proviso that this registrations could be final only after the expiry of the time limit fixed for submitting a notice of opposition. A particularly accelerated trademark registration procedure takes about 2 months.

Search for earlier rights
The HIPO performs a search for previous rights, prepares a search report and sends the report to the applicant. However, only upon the opposition of the owners of these earlier rights can the registration be refused.

Substantive Examination
The substantive examination includes ex officio only the so-called absolute grounds of refusal. A trademark application shall be rejected by the HIPO in whole or in part if it does not meet the examined requirements.

Publication
After the search report is sent to the applicant, the application is published.

Opposition
Within a period of three months of the date of the publication, an opposition may be submitted. A notice of opposition can be based on a trademark application or on an earlier registered trademark.

Amendments
A trademark application may not be amended in respect of the sign, as well as the list of goods or services in such a way that it extends beyond that contained in the application on the date of filing.

The applicant may file a new trademark application – not later than six months prior to the application in question claiming protection for broader specification of goods and services than it has been covered by the original application.

Hungarian trademark registration
If the trademark application – and the sign to which it relates – meets all the requirements, the subject matter of the application will be registered as a trademark. After registration, the HIPO issues a trademark certificate. 5 years after the registration, the effective use of the trademark needs to be proven by the right holder.