Luxembourg Trademark Registration

To obtain protection in Luxembourg, your trademark must be registered through the Benelux system, not as a purely national Luxembourg filing. Luxembourg forms part of Benelux, together with Belgium and the Netherlands, and all trademark applications are filed before the **Benelux Office for Intellectual Property (BOIP). A single Benelux trademark grants protection in the three member countries.

You can also obtain protection in Luxembourg by:

• Registering a **European Union trademark (EUTM), which covers all EU Member States, or
• Extending an international registration via the Madrid System to Benelux.

Benelux is a “first-to-file” jurisdiction, so registration is generally necessary to obtain rights over a trademark. Only in exceptional cases can well-known, unregistered marks be protected. Prior use is not a filing requirement, but evidence of use may help overcome objections based on lack of distinctiveness.

To register a trademark in Luxembourg, you will generally need to provide:

• The name or logo you want to register
• The applicant’s details

No documents are necessary.

If any additional information or country-specific formalities apply, your iGERENT consultant will confirm the exact requirements and guide you through each step.

The Benelux filing system, which covers Luxembourg, indicates that the trademark registration process takes around 4 months from filing, assuming the procedure is straightforward and no significant obstacles arise. Actual timing can vary depending on examination results and whether oppositions are filed.

Once your Benelux trademark (covering Luxembourg) is registered:

• It is valid for 10 years from the filing date.
• It can be renewed indefinitely for additional periods of ten years each.
• Renewal can be requested from six (6) months before the expiration date and up to six (6) months after expiry, in which case late renewal fees will apply.

If the mark is not used for five consecutive years after registration, it becomes vulnerable to cancellation for non-use, so maintaining at least some genuine use is important.

Yes. Because Luxembourg is part of the Benelux system, third parties can oppose a Benelux trademark application (which covers Luxembourg):

• Once the application is filed, it is published in the Trademarks Register for two (2) months.
• During this two-month opposition period, interested third parties may file opposition actions based on prior rights.

At the same time, BOIP examines the application on the merits to ensure that it meets all registration requirements. The chances of success of an opposition will depend on the degree of similarity between the marks and the goods/services involved, as well as the strength of the earlier rights.

You do not need to have used the trademark in order to file or obtain its registration in Benelux (Luxembourg).

However, after registration:

• If the trademark has not been used for a continuous period of five (5) years, it becomes vulnerable to cancellation for non-use.

Even relatively limited genuine use can be enough to keep the registration safe, but total absence of use over that period exposes the mark to attack by third parties.