Searching

It is recommended that before submitting an application for the registration of a trademark,  a trademark search is carried out in the National Trademark Register, so as to check whether there are any prior registrations or applications with which your application may conflict.

Alternatively, if you would like the office to carry out the search on your behalf please send an e-mail on ipoffice@gov.mt indicating the mark to be searched and the goods or services to be covered by the mark. The cost of the search is € 11.65 per 3 words or 3 figurative elements searched for each class of goods or services.

It is recommended that before submitting an application for the granting of a patent,  a patent search is carried out in the National Patent Register, so as to ensure that your invention is new and original.

Alternatively, if you would like the office to carry out the search on your behalf please send an e-mail on ipoffice@gov.mt. The cost of the search is € 11.65 per patent.

Similarly it is also possible to carry out a search for designs already applied for and registered with this office as well as other EU national IP offices and other offices in countries outside the EU by clicking on DesignView at www.tmdn.org.  DesignView is also accessible on the IP portal at http://ips.gov.mt​.​

Trademark Search Request

This Office offers the services of trademark searches on the National as well as the European Community Database.

The service is carried out at the request of the client who may send the details of the search request by post or email on ipoffice@gov.mt

For your information please also note that the applicable search fees are as follows:    

• Word Search: €10.00 for every three (3) words per mark, in each class
• Figurative Element Search: €10.00 for every three (3) Vienna Codes per mark, in each class
• €1.00 (uncertified) or €2.00 (certified) per extract from the National or EUTM register 

An electronic search for trademark information may be undertaken online by visiting www.ips.gov.mt​ and clicking on the Search the National Register in the Trademark section.

Alternatively, an email request for the Office to undertake a Search on your behalf may be submitted to the Commerce Department by using the email address: ipoffice@gov.mt

The Office's Search Reports do not constitute a guarantee that the searched marks would be registered if an application for registration is submitted. The pre-application search procedure excludes the examination of marks on absolute grounds for refusal and searches in the European Community Trademarks register.  It is further pointed out that although the searches are carried out scrupulously and attentively, responsibility for any omission, oversight, inaccuracy, or mistake whatsoever is disclaimed by the Office. 

Representations of National Trademarks, apart from being available online, are open to public inspection at this Office in terms of law and may be inspected by all those interested.  European Union Trademarks are searchable directly from here. 

Pharmaceutical Patents Directory

In 2009, the Commerce Department entered into a joint initiative with Malta Enterprise, who in turn commissioned Chetcuti Cauchi Advocates, to compile the contents of a Pharmaceutical Patents Directory covering the last 20 years of such registrations in Malta, which has continued being updated on a monthly basis by the Department and which may be viewed by clicking here.

General Patents Directory

The Commerce Department has separately compiled a General Patents Directory covering the last 20 years of all Patent registrations in Malta, which is also updated on a monthly basis and which may also be viewed here.

European Patents

t is the European Patent Organisation’s (EPO's) database of ideas, offering free access to over 60 million Patent documents from all over the world, representing technical developments dating back to 1836.  This service can be used to watch new technologies emerge, to find solutions to technical problems and to discover what competitors are developing. 

United States Patents

Google Patents is a service offering over 7 million Patents issued in the United States by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and which are readily available online.   

European Union Trademarks and Designs

A range of search tools are available on the European Union Intellectual Property's (EUIPO's) website allowing a fast and user-friendly lookup of European Union Trademarks (EU TMs) and Registered Community Designs (RCDs), providing information about classifications or help in the search for representatives.

This site also provides access to all non-confidential correspondence exchanged between EUIPO and the EU TM owner and/or their representative via the Online Access to EU TM Files service – available by clicking EUIPO Databases​.

​TMview is a new Search service designed to simultaneously search, free of charge, the databases of existing Trademarks held by the national collaborating offices which you are kindly invited to visit through the link provided below:

​Go now to TMview!

Intellectual Property Digital Library

The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) provides online access to the following data collections:

WIPO’s Patentscope provides access to over one million published Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications and to the latest bibliographic data and documents contained in the files of PCT international applications.  Click on the following link: PATENTSCOPE®

WIPO’s Madrid Express database includes all international registrations that are currently in force, available in full Latin script from 1978 onwards, including those that have expired within the past six months.  It also includes data relating to international applications and subsequent designations that have been received by WIPO but have not yet been recorded in the international register of marks.

Click on the following link: Madrid System for the International Registration of Marks

WIPO’s Hague Express Database includes bibliographical data and, as far as international registrations governed exclusively or partly by the 1999 and/or by the 1960 Act(s) of the Hague Agreement are concerned, reproductions of Industrial Designs relating to international registrations that have been recorded in the International Register and published in the International Designs Bulletin as of issue No. 1/1999.

Click on the following link: Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs

WIPO’s Article 6ter Express database includes all communications made so far under Article 6ter of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (Paris Convention) by States and international intergovernmental organisations – for the protection of State Emblems, Official Hallmarks and Emblems of Intergovernmental Organisations.  It is updated as soon as a new request for communication is sent to the States party to the Paris Convention and to the Members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Click on the following link: Article 6ter of the Paris Convention

WIPO also has a database with information on all the Appellations of Origin entered, in accordance with the Lisbon Agreement for the Protection of Appellations of Origin and their International Registration, in the international register and which are in force.  For the convenience of users, the products covered by the appellations of origin registered under the Lisbon Agreement are classified in accordance with the International (Nice) Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks.  Click on the following link:  Lisbon System for the International Registration of Appellations of Origin​

National IP Databases