A complete Nordic trademark instruction is more than a name and a list of countries. The application must identify the correct owner, reproduce the approved mark, define the protected goods and services and place each filing on the right national, EU or international route. This checklist helps foreign applicants and overseas IP firms send NordicIP one instruction that can move directly into preparation.
Appoint NordicIP and we convert that commercial brief into the required national applications for Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. Where an EU trademark is a better part of the structure, we coordinate the EUTM with the Norwegian national right and any separate Danish filing needed for Greenland or the Faroe Islands.
1. List the markets, not just “the Nordics”
There is no single Nordic trademark registration. Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden each have a national register. Denmark, Finland and Sweden are also covered by an EUTM, while Norway remains a separate trademark jurisdiction. A Danish national registration has the additional territorial value of extending to Greenland and the Faroe Islands.
Start the instruction with the places where the client sells, manufactures, licenses or expects to launch. Mark each market as immediate, planned or defensive. That distinction helps us compare the value of four national applications with an EUTM-plus-Norway plan and prevents the filing map from becoming wider than the commercial need.
2. Confirm the applicant before drafting
The owner shown on the application should be the legal person that will control and use the right. Provide its full registered name, legal form, country of incorporation and current registered address. Trading names, group descriptions and shortened company names should be identified separately rather than substituted for the legal owner.
If a group company, founder or new holding company is intended to own the mark, resolve that point before filing. Later assignments can be recorded, but beginning with the intended owner creates a cleaner register, renewal record and enforcement position. For a portfolio roll-out, use the same verified owner data for every country unless there is a deliberate reason to vary it.
3. Supply the mark in its approved form
For a word mark, give the characters exactly as they should appear. Check spelling, spacing, punctuation and any non-Latin characters. For a figurative or combined mark, send the final high-resolution artwork and identify whether colour forms part of the intended representation. A draft logo should not become the registered version simply because it was attached to an early email.
If the word and logo each have independent commercial importance, tell us. Separate applications may create more flexible protection than one combined representation. NordicIP will explain the filing and class cost before additional applications are prepared.
4. Describe the business in plain English
Send a practical description of what the applicant sells or provides now and what is planned under the mark. Include product names, software functions, retail or wholesale activity, professional services, online platforms and any branded content or training. Existing EU, UK, US or international specifications are useful references, but they should not replace the commercial explanation.
NordicIP turns the brief into a precise list of goods and services, checks the Nice classes and adapts the wording for the selected office. We also identify terms that may attract a clarification request or create unnecessary class fees. The purpose is a specification broad enough for the real brand plan and focused enough to move efficiently through examination.
5. Identify priority at the beginning
If the same mark was first filed elsewhere within the relevant priority period, provide the filing date, application number, office, owner and goods and services. Send a copy of the filing record where available. The Nordic application must align with the earlier mark and cannot claim a wider priority scope than the first application supports.
Priority creates a filing timetable, so it should appear in the first instruction rather than emerge after the specification has been approved. NordicIP records the deadline, checks the owner and mark data and confirms any supporting document needed by the office.
6. Share search results and known conflicts
Include any national, EUIPO or WIPO searches already completed, together with watch notices, coexistence agreements or earlier-right correspondence. A clear result for an identical name is only the start; relevant risk can also come from visually, aurally or conceptually similar marks covering related goods and services.
If no clearance work has been completed, ask NordicIP to define an appropriate search. Our Nordic trademark availability guide explains the registers and the difference between a basic identity check and a commercially useful similarity assessment.
7. Provide the Power of Attorney and contact route
Use the correct country form from the NordicIP Power of Attorney downloads. Return a clear scan signed by a person authorised for the applicant. Also identify the instructing contact, the person who can approve the specification and the email address for invoices and registration reports. For an overseas IP firm, tell us whether reporting should be prepared for counsel only or in a format suitable for forwarding to the owner.
8. Confirm timing and budget constraints
Tell us about product launches, investor events, domain disputes, licence negotiations or approaching priority dates. Office processing targets are useful planning indicators, but an objection or opposition adds a further stage. We will give the client a filing timetable, not an artificial promise of registration by a fixed commercial date.
The same instruction should state whether the published filing fees have already been approved and in which currency the client expects to be invoiced. See the Nordic trademark fee comparison for the current packages and class structure.
9. Use this model instruction
- Countries: Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden; identify any EUTM preference.
- Applicant: full legal name, legal form, incorporation country and registered address.
- Mark: exact word mark or final logo file.
- Goods and services: plain-English business description plus any existing specification.
- Priority: earlier application number, date, office and supporting record.
- Clearance: search reports, known earlier rights and relevant agreements.
- Authority: signed Power of Attorney and authorised contact.
- Timing: launch date, priority deadline and internal approval contact.
Send that package through the NordicIP quote form. We will check the record, identify any missing point, prepare the filing route and confirm the complete cost before submission.