Conversion of an application: what the decision maker looks at
Conversion turns a failed, withdrawn, or lapsed EU-wide trade mark filing into a bundle of national applications, keeping the original filing date. Two decision makers examine the request in sequence: the office that first received the EU filing checks the request itself, then each named national office examines the substance under its own domestic practice.
What conversion actually does
The mechanism sits between two administrative layers. An applicant whose EU-wide right no longer stands — refused, withdrawn before a decision, or lost after non-renewal of the underlying EU status — can ask for the filing to be split into national applications. Each destination office receives a copy of the original file together with the date it was first lodged.
That date is the only thing conversion preserves. Everything else about the application starts a fresh domestic life once it reaches a national office.
The request itself does not re-argue why the EU right failed. It asks the receiving office to forward the file onward, and it asks each national office to treat the forwarded date as if the application had been filed there directly.
Stages and who checks them
| Stage | Decision maker | What gets checked |
|---|---|---|
| Request lodged | Office that held the EU-wide filing | Timing against the window that opened when the EU right failed |
| Admissibility check | Same office | Whether the underlying right genuinely failed, was withdrawn, or lapsed, and whether the list of destination states is complete |
| Transmission | Same office, forwarding to each named state | That the file and the original filing date travel intact |
| National examination | Each destination office, separately | Merits under its own classification practice and refusal grounds |
| Local publication | Each destination office | Whether a domestic opposition window applies before registration |
What changes in timing and risk
Conversion resets the clock in every state it touches. The receiving office's admissibility check adds a short administrative delay before anything reaches national examiners. After that, each country runs its own queue, so a filing converted into five states rarely finishes at the same time in each one.
Risk shifts too. An objection raised in one destination has no effect on the others; a refusal in one country does not weaken the filing elsewhere. A rival's continued use of a similar sign during that queue sometimes calls for a faster, separate track instead of patience with the register. How preliminary injunction patent runs in practice sets out how that track moves once filed.
Where the same business also runs technology contracts with service-level commitments, tracking missed obligations across a portfolio is a familiar problem in another register. Service credit calculation shows how one part of a corporate file quantifies a shortfall once it happens.
What to do
- Confirm the exact date the EU-wide right failed, was withdrawn, or lapsed; the window for the conversion request runs from that date.
- Pick the destination states on commercial grounds, not by default; each one adds a separate national file and a separate fee.
- Check the goods and services still needed in each destination; the scope in the converted file cannot exceed what the original filing covered.
- File the conversion request naming every chosen state before the window closes.
- Arrange a translation of the specification into each destination country's language once the office confirms which states received the request.
- Track each national file on its own timeline; a delay or objection in one state does not pause the others.
Classification carries the same logic in other registers. What classification token issuance means in a file shows how a comparable scope question gets resolved for a different kind of filing.
Who decides
The office that held the original EU-wide filing decides only whether the conversion request is admissible: timing, completeness, and the list of destination states. It does not decide whether the mark deserves protection. That question belongs to each national office once the file arrives, and each one applies its own examination practice, independent of what happened at EU level and independent of any other destination named in the same request.
Forks
- If the EU-wide application was refused for only part of the goods and services, conversion can be limited to what survived, which narrows the fee and translation burden.
- If a ground that sank the EU-wide filing turns on language or local perception, a destination state that assesses the mark differently may still register it, even though the EU-wide right failed everywhere at once.
- If the applicant misses the conversion window, the option closes entirely, and the only way back is a fresh national filing that loses the earlier date.
Related reading
Filing dates and rankings between competing marks raise a related question at the same decision point. How seniority and priority claims trade mark what the decision maker weighs when two filings compete for the same date.
Sources and limit
This page describes the procedural mechanism as it runs in practice: the sequence of checks, the two layers of decision maker, and the point at which the option closes. It does not set out fee schedules or the merits test any single national office applies to a given mark. Those questions sit with the destination office once the file arrives.
Where the practical exposure is what a misjudged priority claim costs a business, rather than how the procedure runs, the figures sit in a different kind of document. Asset report when a competitor claims priority in practice.
Checked: 3 March 2025. Primary reference: the procedural guidance published by the office that administers EU-wide trade mark filings, and by the national offices that receive converted applications.
FAQ
How long does conversion of an application take in practice?
The admissibility check at the first office adds a short delay before anything moves on. After that, each destination state runs its own queue, so total time depends on which countries were named and how busy each office is that season.
Which documents are needed to start?
A copy of the original filing, proof of the date the EU-wide right failed or was withdrawn, the list of destination states, and a specification of goods and services that does not exceed the original scope.
What happens if the other side does not respond?
Conversion is not an adversarial step; there is no opposing party at that stage. A prior opponent's silence has no bearing on it. The receiving office proceeds on the applicant's request alone, and any third-party challenge only arises later, inside each destination country's own publication window.