Trademarks
A trademark is a name, logo or other mark that you can use to distinguish your products and services from those of others. A trademark may prove to be a valuable asset to your business.
What is trademark registration?
Both businesses and individuals can apply for trademark registration. A registered trademark offers an exclusive right to use the trademark for your or your business's goods and services. The exclusive right applies to, for example; the use of the trademark on the actual goods, on business documents, in marketing and/or verbal communication. The exclusive right means that no one can use a trademark that can be mistaken for your trademark, when marketing or selling the same types of goods or services as those for which your trademark is registered.
Apply for a trademark in Norway
Innovasjon Norge about IPR advisor database (in Norwegian)
What type of protection do you need
Are you unsure whether it is a trademark, design or patent that you should register? The Norwegian Industrial Property Office has developed a test to see which values it may be important for your company to protect.
What can you register as a trademark?
A trademark can consist of:
- letters, numbers, words, names, slogans
- logos, figures and images
- packaging
- sound, movement
- combinations thereof
In addition, a trademark must have distinctiveness so that customers can distinguish your product from others. You can generally not register trademarks that only describe the product or service, because other businesses must be allowed to describe their product without infringing on the intellectual property rights of others.
For example, you will not be able to obtain exclusive rights to "Økern Car Mechanic" for services which involve "car repairs", as the trademark only indicates where in Oslo the service is offered, i.e. Økern, and the type of services that are being offered there, i.e. car mechanic services. If you want to use such a descriptive text in your trademark, you must add something else which is sufficiently distinctive in order for it to be possible to register it. This could for example be a figurative element or a logo design that is distinctive. It will be the combination of text and figure that will be protected, but not just the text.
The Trademark Act (in Norwegian only)
The Trademark Regulations (in Norwegian only)
How long is a trademark registration valid for?
A registered trademark is valid for ten years and can be renewed for ten years at a time. However, you have an obligation to use any trademark that you register. This means that if you do not use a trademark for all the products and services for which you have registered it within five years, the Norwegian Industrial Property Office may delete, or partly delete, the registration if someone makes such a request.
Different symbols for trademarks
- The symbol ® is used to denote registered trademarks
- ™ - Can be used on unregistered trademarks as a signal to the market that this is a trademark.
- © - Copyright marking for literary and artistic words
Symbols used in connection with trademarks and copyright
Before applying
You should consider whether the trademark is distinctive and check if others already have a right to the same or a similar trademark. You can do this on:
- The Norwegian Industrial Property Office's search engine.
- namesearch.no website, where one search will reveal if domain name, business name and trademark is available.
The Norwegian Industrial Property Office – Search engine
If you would like more information or have any questions, you can call their customer service centre or schedule a meeting with one of their case officers. The Norwegian Industrial Property Office (Patentstyret) also offers paid preliminary searches to check whether a trademark can be registered.
Preliminary Search Service – trademarks
How do you apply to register a trademark?
You submit the application to the Norwegian Industrial Property Office (Patentstyret) through Altinn. When you apply, you must choose the classes for which the trademark is to apply. In other words, you must decide within which product groups, or types of services, you want your trademark protection to apply.
How long does it take to register a trademark?
Fees - Price List for Trademarks
International trademark registration
Trademark registrations only apply in the country in which the trademark is registered. If you use your trademark outside Norway, or produce goods in other countries, you should consider applying for protection in the countries concerned as well. You can register a trademark in several countries at the same time.
The Norwegian Industrial Property Office - Apply for a trademark in other countries
Appealing against other parties' trademarks
If someone has registered (or applied to register) a trademark which in your opinion is either identical to your trademark or sufficiently similar that it could be confused with your trademark, you can lodge an appeal. The Norwegian Industrial Property Office will be able to tell you about the relevant conditions, appeal deadlines and procedures.
The Norwegian Industrial Property Office - Appeal Options - trademarks
The Norwegian Industrial Property Office – Acquired distinctiveness through use
Keep up-to-date through courses from The Norwegian Industrial Property Office
The Norwegian Industrial Property Office offers various courses on how to protect your assets through patent, trademark- and design rights. Most of the courses are free, and many of them are streamed online. You can also watch videos and recordings of previous courses and webinars – completely free of charge.
The Norwegian Industrial Property Office – courses
Collective marks and guarantee or certification marks
A trade association can obtain exclusive rights for its members to use a trademark or other mark for its products or services.
Responsibility marks
Anyone who produces and/or sells products made from gold, silver or platinum stamped with a fineness (e.g. 'S925' for silver) must stamp the product with a responsibility mark registered with the Norwegian Industrial Property Office.
