The unified legal system governing trademark protection in mainland Portugal, Madeira and the Azores archipelagos is based on Decree-Law No. 50/2022, the revised Portuguese Industrial Property Code, which fully transposes the EU Trade Mark Directive 2015/2436 into domestic national law and repealed the outdated 2008 industrial property statute. The exclusive national authority for trademark examination, registration, renewal and enforcement is INPI Portugal (Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial), headquartered in Lisbon with regional service desks across major cities.
Portugal adopts a dual trademark filing system: national Portuguese trademark applications and EU Union Trade Mark (EUTM) filings managed by EUIPO. Unlike India’s single-class mandatory filing rule, INPI permits both single-class and multi-class national applications under Nice Classification 11th Edition. All foreign applicants without a physical residence or registered branch in Portuguese territory must appoint an INPI-certified industrial property attorney as their exclusive legal representative, and submit a signed power of attorney without consular legalisation—this simplified notarisation rule differentiates Portugal from Middle Eastern and South Asian trademark jurisdictions. Self-submission by overseas companies without local legal representation will be rejected outright at formal examination stage.
INPI operates fully digital e-filing through its official portal; paper applications are still accepted but subject to a 30% surcharge on standard official fees. Every national trademark application automatically gains a filing date once complete documents and full payment are received, regardless of subsequent substantive objections.
Article 122 of the Portuguese Industrial Property Code defines the scope of protectable signs: words, logos, monograms, colour combinations, three-dimensional product shapes, holograms, motion marks and sound marks. Olfactory and taste marks are categorically excluded from registration eligibility, consistent with most EU member states but distinct from individual jurisdictions that accept limited scent trademark filings. Two special protected mark types are regulated separately: collective marks and certification marks, which require supplementary proof of the applicant’s capacity to supervise uniform use by third parties.
Article 123 codifies absolute refusal grounds with no discretionary power for INPI examiners:
1. Signs identical or confusingly similar to Portuguese national symbols, European Union emblems, UN insignia, religious icons widely recognised within Portugal, or official marks of Portuguese public administrations;
2. Purely descriptive terms that only reflect the goods’ nature, material, geographic origin or quality without proven acquired distinctiveness via minimum five consecutive years of continuous commercial use nationwide;
3. Marks containing obscene, discriminatory or offensive content that violates Portuguese public order, moral standards or equality laws;
4. Generic trade names, customary industry designations or mandatory quality labels prescribed by EU and Portuguese consumer protection regulations.
A unique Portuguese provision concerns geographical indications (GIs): wine, olive oil and cork product GIs such as Porto Wine and Alentejo Olive Oil enjoy superior protection over ordinary trademarks. Private commercial entities are prohibited from registering recognised Portuguese geographical indications as private brand signs.
Portugal’s national trademark procedure follows three sequential legally binding phases with fixed response deadlines, fully separated from Indian, UAE and U.S. trademark procedural rules mentioned in prior articles.
INPI officials verify document completeness, agent authorisation validity, Nice classification wording compliance and trademark specimen quality. A single rectification notice is issued for defective applications, granting a 20-day one-time correction window. Failure to resolve all deficiencies results in deemed abandonment with no administrative appeal right.
Examiners review absolute refusal grounds under Article 123 and relative conflict grounds under Article 124, covering prior national trademarks, registered EUTMs, unregistered well-known marks and pre-existing trade names with overlapping commercial scopes. If an official examination report is issued, the applicant must file a counterstatement with distinctiveness comparison evidence within 30 days of notification; silence leads to automatic application dismissal.
Applications passing substantive review are published online on INPI’s official bulletin. The statutory opposition window lasts exactly two calendar months, shorter than India’s four-month opposition term but longer than UAE’s 30–60 day period. Any natural person or legal entity with proven legitimate commercial interest may file opposition supported by prior-right documentary evidence. Opposition hearings are held remotely via video conference by default upon joint request of both parties.
If no oppositions are filed or opposition claims are fully dismissed, INPI issues a digital trademark registration certificate. The initial protection term lasts 10 years, calculated strictly from the official filing date.
Renewal applications must be submitted within 12 months prior to registration expiry. A post-expiry grace period of six months is available with progressive late renewal penalties; once the six-month window lapses, the trademark is permanently erased from the national registry with no restoration channels. Renewal filings require a sworn declaration proving continuous genuine commercial use within Portuguese territory for at least one designated Nice class over the past five years, a stricter use evidence requirement than most other EU member states.
Articles 138 and 139 of the Industrial Property Code govern trademark transfer and licensing. Full or partial assignment of trademark ownership is legally valid only after mandatory recordation at INPI; unrecorded transfer contracts only bind the original contracting parties and cannot be used to oppose third-party trademark filings or infringement claims. All exclusive, non-exclusive and sole trademark licences must also be registered with INPI; unregistered licensees lack standing to initiate independent civil trademark infringement lawsuits before Portuguese commercial courts.
A distinctive Portuguese regulatory restriction: trademark assignment to entities whose business activities violate EU consumer protection or equality legislation will be rejected for recordation. Joint trademark transfers demand written consent from all co-proprietors before INPI can process the registration change.
Article 145 comprehensively defines trademark infringement acts under Portuguese law: unauthorised use of identical or confusingly similar marks on identical or related goods, counterfeit manufacturing, import/export of counterfeit merchandise, and unlicensed trademark use on domestic e-commerce platforms operating within Portugal and Madeira/Azores. Rights holders possess two parallel enforcement avenues: civil litigation before commercial courts and administrative seizure applications submitted to the Portuguese Customs Authority (AT — Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira).
Civil remedies awarded by Portuguese commercial judges include permanent injunctions ordering cessation of all infringing activity, full destruction of counterfeit inventory and manufacturing moulds, compensatory damages calculated on either the trademark owner’s lost profits or the infringer’s illegal commercial gains, and full reimbursement of attorney fees, investigation and forensic appraisal costs. Intentional large-scale commercial counterfeiting triggers criminal liability under Article 152, carrying custodial sentences from six months to three years and administrative fines ranging from EUR 5,000 to EUR 250,000.
Well-known trademarks enjoy cross-class protection without mandatory Portuguese national registration, fulfilling Portugal’s obligations under the Paris Convention and EU trademark directives. To obtain well-known mark recognition, applicants must submit cross-border sales statistics, international advertising expenditure, consumer market survey data and foreign infringement judgments; the core evaluation standard is brand recognition among Portuguese domestic consumers. Portuguese Customs operates a dedicated IP recordation system, allowing trademark owners to pre-register their marks for automatic screening and detention of suspected counterfeit shipments at all national airports, seaports and land border crossings.
Registered trademarks may be fully or partially cancelled under Article 141 if the proprietor fails to deploy genuine commercial use in Portugal for five consecutive years without acceptable justifiable reasons, such as factory suspension, supply chain breakdown or pending EU product regulatory approval. Any interested third party may submit a cancellation petition supported by market investigation evidence proving complete non-use. Minor adjustments to trademark colour shades, font layout or graphic proportions can be recorded through simple rectification applications via INPI’s digital portal. Material alteration of the trademark’s core distinctive verbal or visual elements requires a completely new national trademark filing instead of administrative amendment to the existing registration.
1.IPcrossark：https://www.ipcrossark.com/en/trademark_detail/128.html
2.https://www.inpi.pt/en/trademarks (INPI Portugal Official National Trademark Central Portal)
3.https://www.inpi.pt/en/legislation/industrial-property-code (INPI Full English Text of Portuguese Industrial Property Code Decree-Law 50/2022)
4.https://euipo.europa.eu/eutradeMark/en/ (EUIPO EU Union Trademark Official Platform)
5.https://www.at.gov.pt/en/customs-intellectual-property-protection
