Conversion of an application: costs drivers
Conversion turns a European Union trade mark application or registration into a set of national applications, one per country you choose, once EU-wide protection fails for a reason that does not apply everywhere. The original filing date carries over into each national file. What drives the cost is not the request itself — it is how many jurisdictions you keep, how many classes you carry forward, and how far the case had already progressed before conversion became the only option.
What changes once conversion is requested
Once an EU designation collapses for a jurisdiction-specific reason — a national earlier right in one member state, a local absolute ground, or non-use limited to that territory — the applicant loses EU-wide cover but keeps a route into the unaffected countries. Missing the window for that route closes it permanently; a fresh national filing afterwards takes today's date, losing priority over anything filed in the meantime by a third party.
The request itself is short. The cost sits downstream, in the number of separate national files the request creates and in what each of those offices then requires before it will examine the mark.
Cost drivers
| Driver | Effect on cost and effort |
|---|---|
| Number of target jurisdictions | Each one becomes a separate national file with its own agent, its own fee schedule and its own examination |
| Number of classes carried over | Wider specifications take longer to translate and longer to defend before national examiners |
| Translation requirements | Every jurisdiction with a different working language needs a certified rendering of the specification |
| Stage reached before conversion | A file already opposed or under appeal carries more history to transfer and explain to each national office |
| Local agent requirements | Offices that require a locally admitted representative add a coordination layer for every jurisdiction that requires one |
| Deadline pressure | A request filed close to the cut-off leaves no room to fix formal defects before a national office refuses on form alone |
What to do
- Identify which member states still make commercial sense once the EU-wide ground has failed; instruct counsel to shortlist them rather than converting into every available country.
- File the conversion request with the EU office before the applicable deadline lapses; the applicant or its representative signs and submits it.
- Check the specification against each target jurisdiction's classification practice; a translator prepares certified versions wherever the national office requires one.
- Appoint a local agent in jurisdictions that require one; the instructing firm coordinates the handover of the file.
- Track each resulting national file separately once the EU office forwards the request; national examination then runs on its own schedule.
- Respond to each national office's objections within that office's own deadline; missing one jurisdiction's deadline does not affect the others.
Document discipline carries the same weight elsewhere in IP procedure, just on tighter clocks: How preliminary injunction patent documents to prepare runs in shows what that looks like when the deadline is measured in days rather than months.
Who decides, and where
The EU office receives the conversion request and forwards it; it does not rule on registrability itself. Each national trade mark office of the chosen jurisdiction then decides on its own file, under its own procedure and its own timeline. A refusal in one jurisdiction has no bearing on the others once the files have been forwarded and opened locally.
Proof questions surface in a comparable way outside trade mark practice: Acceptance technology contract how it is proved explained looks at how a different sector establishes that a step in a procedure was actually completed.
Appeal architecture, by contrast, varies sharply between regimes; What changed in appeal routes token issuance traces a recent shift in an entirely separate area, useful mainly as a reminder that appeal mechanics do not transfer across practice lines.
Common forks
If the EU designation failed only because of an earlier right confined to one member state, convert into the jurisdictions unaffected by that right; the barred country will fail there too, on the same ground.
If the specification was narrowed during EU examination, carry the narrowed version forward. Reinstating the original scope at national level usually fails on formal grounds alone.
If a licence or security interest was recorded against the EU right, notify each national office separately once the file lands there; the recording does not transfer automatically with the application.
What this page does not cover
This page describes the conversion mechanism, not the substantive reasons an EU designation may fail, and not the fee structure of any single national office — those figures sit with the office in question and move independently of this procedure. For a structured view of what can actually be established from a national asset register once a matter reaches that stage, see Asset in Austria in detail, which sits in our reporting layer rather than in advisory work.
Verified
Reviewed by Ruta Kavaliauskaite on 14 February 2025. Sources: procedural guidance published directly by the relevant EU and national trade mark offices, consulted rather than reproduced on this page.
Frequently asked questions
How long does conversion of an application take in practice?
The EU office forwards the request within its ordinary processing time. Each national office then examines it under its own schedule, so total duration depends on how many jurisdictions and classes are carried over.
Which documents are needed to start?
The formal conversion request, the specification to be carried forward, and — where the target jurisdiction requires them — a certified translation and a power of attorney for the local agent.
What happens if the other side does not respond?
If a national office receives no response to an objection within its own deadline, that jurisdiction's file lapses on its own terms; the outcome does not affect the other converted files.
Related reading
How seniority and priority claims trade mark costs drivers covers the adjacent cost logic that applies when priority, rather than conversion, is what keeps a filing date alive.
If your situation is different
If the EU designation is failing because a third party's claim covers only part of the range you filed for, What to do first in this situation in detail sets out the immediate response before conversion becomes relevant at all.
If a rights holder has already sent a warning rather than an office objection, A warning letter arrives from a patent holder patent covers what that costs to answer properly.