Opposition against a trademark
Within the opposition period after registration, a trademark can be opposed by any third party who thinks that the trademark should be revoked and should not have been accepted into the Finnish Trademark Register.
An opponent who has no domicile or registered office in the European Economic Area (EEA) must appoint a representative residing in the EEA to represent the opponent in the opposition proceedings.
Read more about using a representative in opposition proceedings.
The provisions applying to opposition proceedings at the PRH differ depending on the application date (filing date) of the opposed trademark. The applied procedure depends on whether the trademark application became pending before or after 1 May 2019.
When reading the instructions below, pay attention to which instructions you should follow.
Processing steps
You can see the processing steps in the picture and list below. We explain them further down in the text.
Opposition period
If you want to oppose a trademark registration, submit your opposition in writing to the PRH within two months from the publishing date of the registration. The opposition period cannot be extended.
Registered trademarks are published in the Finnish Trademark Gazette, which comes out twice a month.. The opposition period begins on the publication date announced in the Gazette. The end date of the opposition period is also announced in the Gazette.
If the last day of the opposition period falls on a weekend or midweek holiday, the deadline is moved to the following working day. If there is no corresponding date in the final month, the opposition period is taken to expire on the last day of that month. (For example, if the trademark was published on 31 December, the opposition period will end on 28 February, or on 29 February in a leap year.)
Contents of the opposition
The requirements for the opposition contents vary depending on when the opposed trademark became pending.
If the trademark application became pending after 1 May 2019
Provide the following details in the opposition:
- the opponent’s details: name, domicile or place of registered office, contact details, and Finnish Business ID, or personal identity code if the opponent is a private person. Indicate the date of birth if the opponent has no Finnish personal identity code.
- details of the registration opposed
- the goods and services opposed
- grounds for the opposition.
In addition, the opposition fee must be paid.
If the opposition is based on an earlier right, the opponent must be the owner of that right.
If the trademark application became pending before 1 May 2019
The opposition is a free-form letter where you should identify the registration you oppose (by the registration number) and supply your name, domicile or place of registered office, and contact details.
Give your grounds for the opposition and specify which goods or services covered by the registration are concerned.
You must pay an opposition fee.
Opposition grounds
In the grounds for opposition, you must explain why the registration fails to satisfy the requirements for registration under the Finnish Trademarks Act.
Read more about the requirements for registration.
You should give all the grounds for your opposition in your opposition letter. After the opposition period has expired, you can complete your opposition with additional evidence or arguments which support your claims, but you are not allowed to introduce new grounds.
Specifying the opposition
In your letter you need to specify whether your opposition concerns all the goods and services of the registration you oppose or just a part of them. In the latter case, you must indicate the classes as well as the goods or services concerned.
Language of opposition
Oppositions must be filed in either Finnish or Swedish.
Opposition fee
If the trademark application became pending after 1 May 2019
You must pay the opposition fee to make your opposition become pending. Pay the fee within the opposition period. If you fail to pay the fee within the opposition period, we will not examine your opposition.
If the trademark application became pending before 1 May 2019
The opponent has to pay an opposition fee. The opposition will become pending even if you do not pay the fee when filing your opposition. We will ask you to pay the missing fee by sending you an office action. Note that we will not start examining the opposition until you have paid the fee.
See our payment instructions and price list.
Submitting the opposition
Use our online service for registered trademarks (available in Finnish and in Swedish) to submit your opposition. The service requires user identification through the Suomi.fi portal. Go to the service and submit an opposition.Open link in a new tab
In the online service, the maximum size of a single file is 15 MB. You can attach several files.
If you cannot use the user identification at Suomi.fi, you can submit your opposition by email. The total size of your email attachments must not be more than 15 MB.
Please observe that the material you send us must not contain links. The information behind the links may change, which means we cannot use it as a basis for the processing.
Submitting statements to the PRH
If you need to send us statements about an opposition matter, use our online service (available in Finnish and in Swedish).
In terms of delivery reliability and data security, it is safer to submit documents via the online service than by email. You will get a receipt of submission immediately after submitting a document. The document is transferred from the service directly to those who process the matter, which makes the processing at the PRH faster than before.
In the service, the maximum size of a single file is 15 MB. You can attach several files.
Go to the online service. Open link in a new tab
Alternatively, you can send us your statements about the opposition by email. The total size of your email attachments must not be more than 15 MB. If your material is too extensive for submission by email, you can send it to us on a memory stick. If you submit your statement by email, you do not need to send the original copy by post.
Please observe that the material you send us must not contain links. The information behind the links may change, which means we cannot use it as a basis for the processing.