intellectual property registration
Intellectual Property Registration in Italy
Before anything is filed, we prepare which company of your group owns each trade mark, patent and design, and the route each one takes.
- National and EU trade marks run 10 years, renewable (MIMIT; Art. 52 EUTMR)
- Patent box: R&D costs uplifted by 110 per cent, in force to 31 December 2026
- No agent is obligatory before the Italian office; any agent is on the roll or a lawyer (Art. 201 CPI)
The owner and the route of each right are settled before the filing, not after it.
Intellectual property, decided with the structure
For a foreign group or a non-resident founder, which company owns each trade mark, patent or design, and where it is filed, are decided before the filing. A right filed in the wrong name is later assigned and recorded at UIBM, the Italian patent and trade mark office (Art. 138 CPI). Regulated businesses plan IP beside our financial licensing service.
No agent is obligatory before UIBM, and any agent used must be a registered industrial-property consultant (consulente in proprietà industriale) or a lawyer (Art. 201 CPI). We are neither. We prepare the file and the order of steps, keep the fee calendar and coordinate the agent, the notary and the company's accountant.
What's included
What we prepare, and what stays with the owner and others.
The route for each right
National, EU or international trade mark; national patent, utility model (modello di utilità), European patent or PCT application; national design. We set out each route's conditions; the choice stays yours.
The owner decided first
The founder, the foreign parent, the Italian operating company or an Italian IP-holding company, each with its statutory hooks side by side in the table below. No ranking.
The filing file
The documents the owner produces, the EU or EEA domicile and the PEC (posta elettronica certificata, certified email). The step lists sit with our trade mark registration service and filing a patent in Italy.
Moving a right into the company
An assignment or contribution, recorded (trascrizione) at UIBM (Art. 138 CPI); an EU trade mark transfer is entered in the EUIPO Register instead, and the new owner cannot invoke the mark until it is (Art. 20 EUTMR). Where the owner does not exist yet, forming an Italian company comes first.
The tax layer, with the accountant
The patent box option, withholding or the Art. 26-quater exemption on royalties paid abroad, arm's-length pricing. Returns sit on the accounting and compliance page; treaty questions go to a tax adviser for an Italian company.
The calendar kept
Trade mark renewals every 10 years, patent maintenance from the fifth year, design renewals every 5 years to 25, as the ministry's marks and designs page and the Milan chamber print them. Our practice, not a statutory duty.
What stays with others
The owner or a registered agent files and represents; the notary receives any deed; the company or an authorised intermediary transmits the return. No registration, grant or time is promised.
Who owns the right: four options and their statutory hooks
Each option's hooks, with their articles. Which fits is decided in a conversation, as part of the right structure for an Italian company.
| Owner | How the right reaches it | Patent box (to 31 December 2026) | When the right is bought or licensed across the border |
|---|---|---|---|
| The founder personally | Filed in the founder's name; a later move into a company is an assignment or contribution recorded at UIBM (Art. 138 CPI); an EU trade mark transfer is entered in the EUIPO Register, and the new owner cannot invoke the mark until it is (Art. 20 EUTMR) | Open to holders of business income (Art. 6(1) D.L. 146/2021) | Royalties paid to the founder abroad by an Italian company: final withholding of 30 per cent on the taxable part (Art. 25(4) D.P.R. 600/1973); no treaty rate given here |
| The foreign parent | Filed in the parent's name; the same recording at UIBM if it moves later | A non-resident entity of Art. 73(1)(d) TUIR may opt only from a treaty country with effective information exchange (Art. 6(2)) | Royalties from the Italian company: 30 per cent on the taxable part, or the Art. 26-quater exemption for an associated EU company (25 per cent of the voting rights held for one year, a residence certificate, up to the arm's-length value); arm's-length prices (Art. 110(7) TUIR) |
| The Italian operating company | Filed in its own name from the start, or recorded to it | Open to holders of business income; the optant carries out the R&D itself, also by contract with companies outside the group, universities or research bodies (Art. 6(4)) | A right it buys is amortised up to 50 per cent a year (patents, know-how) or one eighteenth a year (trade marks) (Art. 103(1) TUIR) |
| An Italian IP-holding company (a description, not a legal category) | Formed first: the notary files the deed within 10 days, the Register enters it within 10 days of protocol, 5 if electronic; a right contributed in kind rules out the videoconference deed; or recorded to it later | The same conditions: business income, and the optant carries out the R&D itself (Art. 6(1) and 6(4)) | Licences to non-resident group companies at arm's-length conditions (Art. 110(7) TUIR); a right it buys is amortised as in the row above |
Sources: Industrial Property Code; Art. 6 D.L. 146/2021; D.P.R. 600/1973; TUIR; Art. 2330(1) c.c.; Art. 11(8) D.P.R. 581/1995; Art. 2(1) D.Lgs. 183/2021.
Where the owner is to be a new Italian holding, it is set up through our holding company set-up service before any right is filed in its name or recorded to it.
How the process works
Who acts at each step, and whether the law sets a term.
Decide the owner and the route for each right
Founder, parent, operating company or IP-holding company; national, EU or international.
The client, with us. No statutory term
If the owner is a new Italian company, form it
The notary files the deed within 10 days (Art. 2330(1) c.c.). Or take over an existing one: ready-made S.r.l. Italy.
The notary; we prepare
Clear the mark or review the prior art
UIBM examines absolute grounds only, so earlier marks are the owner's search (Art. 170 CPI).
The client or a registered consultant; we coordinate. No statutory term
File in the owner's name
Online with an SPID, CIE, CNS or eIDAS login, on paper at any chamber, or by post; always an EU or EEA domicile (Art. 147 CPI).
The owner or an agent
Oppositions and validation
Third parties may oppose within three months of publication, at UIBM and EUIPO; a European patent is validated in Italy within three months of issue, or takes unitary effect.
No statutory total term
Record a right filed by the founder or the parent
An assignment or contribution, recorded at UIBM (Art. 138 CPI); an EU trade mark transfer is entered in the EUIPO Register, and the new owner cannot invoke the mark until it is (Art. 20 EUTMR).
The parties; the notary in a capital operation
Tax options and flows
The patent box option in the first return with qualifying R&D; withholding or the Art. 26-quater exemption on royalties. The company; the return goes through it or an Art. 3(3) D.P.R. 322/1998 intermediary (as in force in 2026).
Keep the right alive
Patent fees from the fifth year, due in the filing month, then six months with a EUR 100 surcharge, then lapse (Milan chamber).
The owner; we keep the calendar
Not sure which company should own your trade marks and patents?
The owner is simplest to settle before the filing: a right filed in another name is later assigned and recorded at UIBM.
The patent box as it stands in 2026
The regime as in force to 31 December 2026, and the open point after it.
law the printed textopen not settled
- 1
31 December 2021
Art. 6 D.L. 146/2021
- law the printed text in force
- 2
The option
Holders of business income
- law five tax periods (Art. 6(1))
- law costs counted back at most to the eighth period before the grant (Art. 6(10-bis))
- 3
4 July 2026
D.Lgs. 117/2026
- law the income-tax consolidated text in force
- 4
31 December 2026
Art. 6 D.L. 146/2021
- law the printed end date
- 5
1 January 2027
Normattiva
- law Art. 6 shown as repealed
- open re-enactment: open
What it gives
For income tax, R&D costs on copyright-protected software, industrial patents, designs and models used in the business are uplifted (maggiorazione) by 110 per cent (Art. 6(3) D.L. 146/2021). The list does not name trade marks.
Who may opt, and for how long
Holders of business income, for five tax periods, irrevocable and renewable (Art. 6(1)). A non-resident entity opts only from a treaty country with effective information exchange (Art. 6(2)). It counts for IRAP too (Art. 6(5)).
The R&D must be the optant's own
The optant carries out the R&D itself, also by contract with companies outside its group or with universities and research bodies (Art. 6(4)). That ties the right's owner to the research.
Costs before the grant, and the documentation
Costs towards a not-yet-protected asset are uplifted from the period of grant, none before the eighth preceding period (Art. 6(10-bis)). Notifying the documentation in the return protects against the Art. 1(2) D.Lgs. 471/1997 penalty (Art. 6(6)).
From 1 January 2027: an open point
Normattiva shows Art. 6 as repealed from 1 January 2027 by D.Lgs. 117/2026, the income-tax consolidated text. Whether that text re-enacts the uplift is open: no successor is named, and nothing is promised for a 2026 option.
Filing routes, terms and state charges
law a window or term set by law
Trade mark
three offices
- UIBMnationalan Italian national mark
- EUIPOEUEU-wide and unitary
- Madridinternationalfiled through UIBM
- law opposition: 3 months, at UIBM and EUIPO
- law term: 10 years, renewable
Invention
three routes
- UIBMnationala national patent or a utility model
- EPOEuropeanclassic validation in Italy within 3 months of issue, or unitary effect in 18 states from 1 September 2024
- PCTinternationalthrough WIPO
- law priority year: 12 months
- law filing tax: within one month
Design
one route on this page
- UIBMnationalan Italian national design
- law term: 5 years, renewable to 25
EU design not covered on this page
No lane is marked as the right one: we set out each route's conditions; the choice stays yours.
State charges as printed for 2026 by the Milan chamber, MIMIT, UIBM and Annex I EUTMR; ours are on request.
| Right and stage | State charge | Term or window | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| National trade mark, first filing | EUR 101 for one class, EUR 34 for each further class; collective mark EUR 337 | Valid 10 years from filing | Milan chamber; MIMIT |
| National trade mark, renewal | EUR 67 for one class, EUR 34 for each further class; up to 6 months late: EUR 34 surcharge | Renewable without limit for 10-year periods | Milan chamber; MIMIT |
| Paper filing and agent | EUR 40 chamber fee on paper filings only; EUR 34 on an agent's letter of appointment attached in original | Priority documents within 6 months | MIMIT; Milan chamber |
| International trade mark (Madrid, through UIBM) | Italian basic fee EUR 135 plus EUR 34 for the letter of appointment; WIPO's own fees not covered | Set by WIPO, not covered here | UIBM tariff page |
| EU trade mark, application | EUR 850 by electronic means (EUR 1,000 otherwise) for the first class; EUR 50 for the second; EUR 150 for each class beyond two | Fee within one month of filing, else the filing date is lost; 10 years, renewal in the 6 months before expiry or 6 after with a fee | Arts. 32, 52 and 53 and Annex I EUTMR |
| EU trade mark, opposition | EUR 320 | 3 months following publication | Art. 46 and Annex I EUTMR |
| National design | EUR 50 online, EUR 100 on paper | 5 years, renewable in 5-year periods to 25 | MIMIT |
| Invention patent, filing | Online EUR 50 for the first 10 claims; on paper EUR 120 up to 10 pages, EUR 160 for 11 to 20, EUR 400 for 21 to 50, EUR 600 above 50, EUR 45 per claim beyond the tenth, EUR 200 where the English claims are missing; the filing tax covers the first 4 years | Paid within one month, else inadmissible (irricevibile) | UIBM; Milan chamber |
| Invention patent, maintenance | Yearly from the 5th year: EUR 60, rising to EUR 650 in each of the 15th to 20th year; late within 6 months: EUR 100 surcharge | By the last useful day of the month of filing; after the grace period the title lapses | Milan chamber |
| Utility model | EUR 120 at filing, covering the first five years; EUR 500 for the second five-year period | Due date of the second-period fee not covered | Milan chamber |
Problems we solve
Where an IP plan goes wrong, and how we handle it.
"We have no address in the EU."
Every UIBM application names an EU or EEA domicile (Art. 147 CPI). At EUIPO a non-EEA owner is represented after the filing, save the group-employee rule (Art. 119 EUTMR). We plan both in the file.
"The mark was filed, then an opposition arrived."
UIBM examines absolute grounds only; earlier marks surface by opposition (opposizione) within a peremptory three months, drafted in Italian (Arts. 170 and 176 CPI). We coordinate the clearance search with a registered consultant before the filing.
"The mark is in the founder's name; the company uses it."
An assignment or contribution is recorded at UIBM (Art. 138 CPI); an EU trade mark transfer is entered in the EUIPO Register, and the new owner cannot invoke the mark until it is (Art. 20 EUTMR). No state cost of the transfer is printed here. We plan the transfer with the formation.
"The Italian company will pay royalties to the parent."
The payer withholds 30 per cent on the taxable part (Art. 25(4) D.P.R. 600/1973), or applies the Art. 26-quater exemption to an associated EU company on its conditions. We prepare the flow before the first payment.
"A maintenance fee was missed."
Late payment is accepted for six months with a EUR 100 surcharge, then the title lapses into the public domain (Milan chamber). Fees go by F24, code C300, with the 15-digit application number. We keep the calendar.
A right already filed in the wrong name?
The assignment, the recording and the royalty flow are planned together, before anything is signed.
Why work with us
Stefano Colombo
Head of Corporate Structuring, Milan. Italian, English, German.
From our practice
, a worked example: a non-EU parent holds a national trade mark and its new S.r.l. will run R&D. We order the steps: the S.r.l. formed; the mark licensed to it, or assigned and recorded at UIBM; the invention filed in its name; the patent box checked.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to trademark a name in Italy?
Our work is priced on request, driven by the number of rights, the routes and whether a company is formed or a right moved. The state charges a national trade mark EUR 101 for one class plus EUR 34 per further class, and EUR 67 plus EUR 34 to renew (Milan chamber). Paper filings add a EUR 40 chamber fee (MIMIT).
How long does it take to register a trade mark or obtain a patent?
The law sets windows, not a total. Third parties may oppose within three months of publication at UIBM and at EUIPO (Art. 176 CPI; Art. 46 EUTMR), a filing fee is paid within one month, and a European patent is validated in Italy within three months of issue. No official source gives a total time, and none is promised.
Do I need an Italian IP attorney, or can the company file itself?
Not by law. Representation before UIBM is optional, and a company may act through its own employee or an employee of a linked company (Art. 201(1) CPI). Any agent used must be on the roll of the industrial-property consultants or a lawyer (Art. 201(4) and (6)). We prepare the file and coordinate; we represent no one before an office.
Can a company outside the EU file at UIBM?
Yes. It can file on paper at any Chamber of Commerce or by post (MIMIT), or online through the UIBM portal, which requires an SPID, CIE, CNS or eIDAS login. Every applicant states or elects a domicile in an EU or EEA state, and a business also gives a PEC, a certified-email address (Art. 147 CPI).
Does UIBM check that nobody else owns the name?
No. UIBM examines absolute grounds only (Art. 170 CPI). Earlier marks surface through an opposition within a peremptory three months of publication, or through a later invalidity action, so the clearance search is the owner's job. An opposition at UIBM is admissible only if drafted in Italian (Art. 176(2) CPI).
Should a foreign group file its trade mark in Italy or in the EU?
An EU trade mark is registered, transferred or surrendered only for the whole Union (Art. 1(2) EUTMR). The Italian filing tax is EUR 101 for one class, the EU fee EUR 850 online (Milan chamber; Annex I EUTMR); both last 10 years. Seniority keeps an earlier Italian mark's rights if it later lapses or is surrendered (Art. 39 EUTMR).
Which entity can own the IP, and how is a right moved into a company?
Each option has its own statutory hooks. A transfer or contribution is recorded at UIBM (Art. 138 CPI); an EU mark's is entered at EUIPO (Art. 20 EUTMR). The patent box needs the optant to carry out the R&D itself (Art. 6(4) D.L. 146/2021). A right contributed in kind at formation rules out the videoconference deed (Art. 2(1) D.Lgs. 183/2021).
How do I register a trademark internationally?
Through the Madrid system, with the application filed through UIBM: the Italian basic fee is EUR 135, plus EUR 34 for the letter of appointment, paid by F24 with code C302 (UIBM tariff page). WIPO charges its own fees on top, which are not covered here. An EU trade mark covers the whole Union in one right.
How long does protection last?
A national trade mark lasts 10 years, renewable without limit (MIMIT); an EU trade mark 10 years, renewable (Art. 52 EUTMR). A national design lasts 5 years, renewable in 5-year periods to 25. An invention patent carries yearly fees from the fifth year to the twentieth; a utility model pays again for its second five years (Milan chamber).
Is a foreign patent valid in Italy?
No. A national patent is protected only where it was filed (Milan chamber). The routes are a national filing, a European patent validated in Italy within three months of issue or registered with unitary effect (18 participating states, Italy included, for patents registered from 1 September 2024, EPO), and a PCT application. The priority year is 12 months.
Patent or utility model?
A utility model protects a new version of an existing product that makes it easier to use; UIBM can treat an invention application as one, keeping its filing date. On paper: EUR 120 to EUR 600 by pages for an invention, EUR 120 for a utility model; online, EUR 50 for an invention's first 10 claims (Milan chamber; UIBM).
What is the Italian patent box today?
To 31 December 2026, R&D costs on software, patents, designs and models are uplifted by 110 per cent under a five-period option, IRAP included (Art. 6 D.L. 146/2021). A non-resident entity may opt only from a treaty country with effective information exchange. Normattiva shows Art. 6 as repealed from 1 January 2027 by D.Lgs. 117/2026; any re-enactment is open.
What tax applies when the Italian company pays royalties to a foreign owner?
Final withholding: 30 per cent on the taxable part (Art. 25(4) D.P.R. 600/1973). Royalties to an associated company of another EU state are exempt where one holds directly at least 25 per cent of the other's voting rights for at least one year, with a residence certificate, up to the arm's-length value (Art. 26-quater). No treaty rate is given.
Can a bought patent or trade mark be written off for tax?
Yes, as the law stands in 2026: the cost of patents and know-how is deductible up to 50 per cent a year, and that of trade marks up to one eighteenth a year (Art. 103(1) TUIR, printed to 31 December 2026). The income-tax consolidated text, D.Lgs. 117/2026, replaces the TUIR numbering from 2027.
What is the format of an Italian patent application number?
UIBM has used 15-digit application numbers for all national filings since May 2015. When a patent fee is paid by F24, the reference is that number followed by two digits for the year number, with tax code C300. Maintenance fees fall due by the last useful day of the month of filing (Milan chamber).
Ready to plan who owns your Italian trade marks, patents and designs?
One conversation settles the owner, the route for each right and the order of steps, before anything is filed. Pricing on request.