European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) - Main contents

The EUIPO is the official authority carrying out the procedures for the Community trade marks since 1996 and for the Community registered design from 2003. These intellectual property rights are valid in all the countries of the EU.

Trade marks and designs belong to the world of private company law. The EUIPO is both an agency of the European Community and an industrial property office with its technical function: the registration of industrial property rights. As a service agency, the Office has to place its clients, that is to say the undertakings that file their trade marks and their designs with the EUIPO, at the centre of the overall mechanism of the Office and it has to provide them with the best service at the best price.

The EUIPO was formerly known as OHIM.