Updated:
- Trademark fraud recovery in Europe is possible through EUIPO invalidity proceedings, civil litigation, and criminal complaints against bad faith registrants and infringers.
- Asian brand owners are primary targets trademark squatting, bad faith registration, and counterfeit exploitation exploit the gap between Asian domestic registration and EU market entry.
- Bad faith EU trademark registrations are invalidable at EUIPO without time limitation making recovery available regardless of how long the fraudulent registration has been in place.
- Civil claims for trademark infringement, fraudulent misrepresentation, and account of profits are available against identified infringers in all major EU jurisdictions.
- Injunctive relief is time-critical the earlier proceedings are initiated after discovery, the more effectively ongoing brand damage and commercial exploitation are stopped.
Trademark fraud recovery in Europe is achievable through EUIPO invalidity proceedings, civil litigation, EU customs enforcement, and criminal proceedings. Where a fraudster registered an Asian brand’s trademark at EUIPO or a national trademark registry in bad faith or unlawfully exploited an Asian brand’s registered mark through counterfeiting, unauthorised licensing, or infringement claims for trademark invalidity, infringement, fraudulent misrepresentation, and account of profits are available. Where trademark attorneys or agents negligently failed to register or defend the genuine owner’s rights, professional negligence claims are available against them and their insurers. Recovery outcomes depend on the registration status of the genuine owner’s mark, the nature of the fraud, the speed of enforcement action, and the identifiability of the fraudulent registrant or infringer.
What Is Trademark Fraud in Europe?
Trademark fraud in Europe encompasses the deliberate misappropriation of another party’s brand through bad faith registration of their trademark, systematic counterfeiting of their goods, fraudulent licensing of their mark without authority, or organised exploitation of their brand reputation for commercial gain.
It is distinct from inadvertent trademark infringement or a legitimate dispute over confusingly similar marks. The legal basis for recovery is intent: a party who registered a trademark knowing it belonged to another, who manufactured or distributed counterfeit goods bearing another’s mark, or who collected licensing fees for rights they did not hold has committed trademark fraud generating both IP enforcement claims and civil fraud claims simultaneously.
EU trademark law provides one of the most accessible enforcement frameworks for fraud victims globally. A single EU trademark registration at EUIPO covers all 27 member states. A single invalidity application cancels a bad faith registration across the entire EU. A single Application for Action at EU customs detains counterfeits at every EU border. These tools used correctly and promptly produce recovery outcomes that are difficult to achieve in most other jurisdictions.
Interesting fact
Between 2020 and 2023, fraudulent letters imitating EUIPO trademark notifications became widespread in the EU. Brand owners were sent invoices for fictitious services, such as catalog listings, registration renewals, or trademark protection. The claims ranged from €500 to €5,000. EUIPO estimates the annual damages reach €50–80 million, and investigations have led to seizures and the freezing of accounts.
Types of Trademark Fraud in Europe
Bad Faith Trademark Squatting
A fraudster registers an Asian brand’s trademark or a mark confusingly similar to it at EUIPO or a national trademark registry, before the genuine owner has established EU registration. The fraudster then:
- Demands payment from the genuine owner to transfer the registration
- Threatens infringement proceedings against the genuine owner attempting to enter the EU market
- Uses the registration to block the genuine owner’s goods at EU customs under Regulation (EU) 608/2013
- Licenses the fraudulently registered mark to European distributors and collects royalties
Trademark squatting is specifically actionable under EU trademark law. Under Article 59(1)(b) of Regulation (EU) 2017/1001, a registration obtained in bad faith is invalidable at EUIPO. Bad faith is established where the applicant knew of the genuine owner’s prior rights and registered with the intention of interfering with those rights or extracting commercial advantage from the genuine owner’s reputation.
Counterfeit Goods Production and Distribution
A fraudster manufactures or distributes counterfeit goods bearing an Asian brand’s registered trademarks or trade dress in European markets. The counterfeits are sold as genuine products through online marketplaces, retail channels, or direct distribution networks generating revenue from the brand’s reputation without authorisation and damaging the genuine owner’s brand equity through inferior quality goods bearing their mark.
EU customs enforcement under Regulation (EU) 608/2013 and civil injunctive relief from national IP courts are the primary enforcement tools. Criminal proceedings engaging Europol’s Intellectual Property Crime Coordinated Coalition (IPC³) provide law enforcement tools for organised counterfeiting networks.
Fraudulent Licensing Without Authority
A fraudster presents as a licensing agent or rights management organisation with authority to license an Asian brand’s trademarks to European businesses collecting licensing fees from European licensees who believe they are entering legitimate agreements with the genuine brand owner. The genuine owner receives no payment and may be unaware that unauthorised licences are being granted in their name. The European licensees are simultaneously victims they paid for licences that confer no genuine rights and potential infringers if they continue to use the mark after the fraud is identified.
Online Trademark Impersonation
A fraudster operates websites, social media profiles, or online stores using an Asian brand’s trademark, trade name, or domain name presenting as the genuine brand or its official European representative. Consumers are misled into purchasing counterfeit goods or paying for services from what they believe is the genuine brand. The genuine owner suffers both financial loss through diverted sales and reputational damage from consumer experiences with counterfeit products or fraudulent services.
Trademark Registration Agent Fraud
A fraudster presents as a trademark registration agent offering to register an Asian brand’s trademark at EUIPO or national registries for a fee but either never files the application, files it incorrectly so it is refused, or files it in the agent’s own name rather than the genuine owner’s. The genuine owner believes their trademark is registered and protected. The fraud is identified when the owner attempts to enforce their rights and discovers either that no registration exists or that the registration is held by the agent.
The EU Trademark Enforcement Framework
EUIPO – Invalidity and Opposition Proceedings
Opposition proceedings: Filed within three months of a conflicting trademark application’s publication in the EUIPO Official Journal. A successful opposition prevents the fraudulent registration before it is granted the most cost-effective and time-efficient enforcement route where the conflict is identified during the application phase.
Invalidity proceedings: Filed at any time after a bad faith registration is granted. There is no time limit for filing an invalidity application on bad faith grounds Article 59(1)(b) of Regulation (EU) 2017/1001. A successful invalidity application cancels the registration across all 27 EU member states from the date of grant restoring the genuine owner’s position as if the fraudulent registration had never existed.
Relative and absolute grounds: Invalidity can be sought on relative grounds prior rights of the genuine owner or absolute grounds the mark was registered in bad faith. Both grounds are available simultaneously and are frequently combined in invalidity applications against trademark squatters.
EU Customs Enforcement – Regulation (EU) 608/2013
An Application for Action (AFA) filed at EUIPO or a national customs authority on behalf of a registered trademark owner activates border detention of suspected counterfeit goods across all 27 EU member states simultaneously. A single AFA is valid for one year and renewable. Detained goods can be destroyed with the rights holder’s consent without requiring court proceedings making customs enforcement the fastest available mechanism for stopping counterfeit goods at EU borders. Asian brand owners with EU trademark registrations should file AFAs proactively upon registering before counterfeit goods reach EU markets.
National IP Courts
National IP courts in all EU member states provide civil enforcement of trademark rights including injunctions, damages, account of profits, and delivery up of infringing goods. Several EU member states have specialist IP courts with significant trademark litigation experience the Juzgados de lo Mercantil in Spain, the Tribunal de Grande Instance in France, the Landgericht in Germany, and the Tribunale in Italy. EU trademark registrations are enforceable in national IP courts across all member states.
Europol IPC³ – Criminal Enforcement
Europol’s Intellectual Property Crime Coordinated Coalition provides coordination and support for criminal investigations into organised trademark counterfeiting and IP crime networks across EU member states. Criminal complaints engaging IPC³ are most effective for large-scale counterfeiting operations with cross-border distribution networks providing investigative tools, premises searches, and asset identification capabilities unavailable through civil proceedings alone.
Legal Framework: Recovery Options
EUIPO Invalidity – Bad Faith Cancellation
The primary recovery mechanism for trademark squatting. A EUIPO invalidity application on bad faith grounds citing the genuine owner’s prior rights in Asian or other markets cancels the fraudulent registration across all 27 EU member states. Evidence of bad faith includes the genuine owner’s prior use and registration in other markets, the applicant’s knowledge of the genuine owner’s rights at the time of filing, and the applicant’s commercial conduct after registration including demands for payment or threats of infringement proceedings against the genuine owner.
Civil Trademark Infringement Claims
Civil infringement claims in national IP courts provide:
- Injunctive relief: Urgent orders preventing the infringer from continuing to use the mark available on an ex parte basis where urgent protection is required
- Account of profits: Recovery of all profits generated by the infringer through exploitation of the genuine owner’s mark without requiring proof of the rights holder’s own loss quantum
- Damages: Compensation for all losses caused by the infringement including lost sales, reputational damage, brand remediation costs, and lost licensing revenue
- Delivery up and destruction: Orders requiring surrender and destruction of all infringing goods, packaging, and materials
- Publication of the judgment: Available in most EU jurisdictions requiring the infringer to publicise the court’s finding of infringement at their own expense
Fraudulent Misrepresentation Claims
Where the trademark fraud involved deliberate misrepresentation false claims of ownership, fraudulent licensing authority, or impersonation of the genuine brand fraudulent misrepresentation claims are available in all EU jurisdictions independently of the trademark infringement claim. These claims recover all financial losses caused by the misrepresentation including costs of enforcement proceedings, lost commercial opportunities during the infringement period, and reputational remediation costs.
Professional Negligence Claims Against Trademark Agents
Where a trademark attorney or registration agent failed to file applications within required timeframes, failed to monitor for conflicting applications, or filed registrations incorrectly allowing a fraudster to register first professional negligence claims are available against the attorney and their professional indemnity insurers.
How to Protect Trademarks in Europe
Registration Strategy
- File at EUIPO before EU market entry: A single EUIPO application covers all 27 EU member states file immediately upon deciding to enter the EU market, before any public announcement, distribution activity, or marketing launch that trademark squatters monitor
- Use the Madrid Protocol for coordinated international registration: The Madrid Protocol enables filing in multiple jurisdictions simultaneously through a single international application at WIPO including the EU through EUIPO designation. For Asian brand owners with multi-market expansion plans, Madrid Protocol filing is the most cost-effective registration strategy
- Register all mark variants: Register the mark in its primary form, its Latin character transliteration, its English translation where applicable, and all material variants including logo versions, colour configurations, and product-specific sub-brands. Trademark squatters register variants that the genuine owner did not include in their primary application
- Monitor EUIPO applications actively: Set up watch services for EUIPO trademark applications that conflict with registered rights enabling opposition filings within the three-month window
Enforcement Infrastructure
- File a customs AFA immediately on registration: Activate EU border enforcement by filing an Application for Action with EU customs through EUIPO immediately on obtaining EU trademark registration before counterfeit goods reach EU markets
- Monitor online marketplaces and domain registrations: Implement brand monitoring across major EU e-commerce platforms Amazon, eBay, Zalando and domain registration databases to identify infringing listings and domain squatting before they establish significant commercial presence
Factors That Determine Recovery Outcomes
Registration Status of the Genuine Owner’s Mark
A registered EU trademark provides the strongest enforcement position invalidity proceedings at EUIPO, civil infringement claims in national courts, and customs enforcement are all available. Unregistered trademark rights based on prior use in EU markets are enforceable but require more extensive evidence of reputation and market presence. Filing EU trademark registration proactively eliminates the evidential burden of establishing unregistered rights.
Evidence of Bad Faith
The strength of a EUIPO invalidity application depends on the quality of evidence establishing the fraudulent registrant’s knowledge of the genuine owner’s prior rights. Evidence includes: earlier registrations in other jurisdictions, international trademark registrations, evidence of prior commercial use and reputation in Asian and other markets, any communications between the fraudster and the genuine owner, and the timing of the squatter’s application relative to the genuine owner’s market entry announcements.
Speed of Injunctive Relief Application
Injunctive relief is the most powerful immediate remedy in trademark fraud cases stopping ongoing infringement and commercial damage. Urgent injunctions applied for immediately upon discovery of infringement before the infringer has established significant market presence or licensed the infringing mark to third parties are more effective and less contested than injunctions sought after delay.
Identifiability and Asset Position of the Infringer
Named infringers with registered EU businesses, commercial operations, and identifiable assets are the most viable defendants for account of profits and damages claims. Account of profits claims are particularly valuable where the infringer has generated significant commercial revenue from the misappropriated mark recovering the infringer’s gains regardless of the rights holder’s own loss quantification challenges.
Frequently Asked Questions
Summary
Trademark Fraud Recovery
Trademark fraud recovery in Europe operates across complementary enforcement channels EUIPO invalidity proceedings cancel bad faith registrations across all 27 EU member states simultaneously; customs AFA enforcement stops counterfeits at EU borders without court proceedings; civil infringement claims in national IP courts provide injunctions, account of profits, and damages; and criminal proceedings through Europol IPC³ address organised counterfeiting networks.
The EU’s bad faith invalidity mechanism available without time limitation at EUIPO means that trademark squatting registrations can be challenged regardless of how long they have been in place. Account of profits claims recover the infringer’s commercial gains without requiring proof of the rights holder’s own loss making them the preferred civil remedy where the infringer has generated significant revenue from the misappropriated mark.
Proactive registration at EUIPO before EU market entry, combined with immediate customs AFA filing on registration, eliminates the majority of trademark fraud exposure before it materialises. Where fraud has already occurred, the combination of EUIPO invalidity proceedings, urgent civil injunctions, and criminal complaints provides the most complete available enforcement response.
If your trademark has been fraudulently registered or exploited in Europe, contact Veritas Advisory Group s.r.o. to have your legal position assessed.
Veritas Advisory Group s.r.o. provides professional legal and advisory services to victims of investment and trade fraud in Europe. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.