Trademark registration gives you the right to oppose conflicting applications — but only if you know about them. Third-party filings that are identical or confusingly similar to your marks are published every day across trademark offices worldwide. If you miss the opposition window, your only recourse may be expensive cancellation proceedings or litigation after the mark is already in use.
Traditional trademark watch services provide long lists of potentially conflicting marks, often with minimal analysis. The brand owner or their counsel must then review each result manually, decide which pose genuine threats, and initiate action — all within tight opposition deadlines. This creates a recurring bottleneck that in-house teams and outside counsel alike struggle with.
IPRHQ's opposition monitoring module screens new deposits across EUIPO, BOIP, WIPO Madrid, and key national offices against the client's registered trademark portfolio. The screening runs continuously, not in weekly or monthly batches.
For each potential conflict, the AI assesses:
Mark similarity. Visual, phonetic, and conceptual comparison between the new filing and the client's marks — the same multimodal analysis used in the clearance engine.
Goods and services overlap. Not just Nice class matching, but substantive assessment of whether the goods and services are commercially related, even across different classes.
Jurisdictional relevance. Whether the new filing covers territories where the client has existing rights or commercial interests.
Each result is assigned one of three priority levels: high (likely conflict requiring immediate attention), medium (potential concern worth monitoring), or low (minimal risk, logged for record-keeping). High-priority alerts are delivered within 24 hours of publication.
When a high-priority conflict is identified, the response workflow is integrated directly into IPRHQ. The attorney reviews the AI's assessment, examines the conflicting mark's application details, and decides on a course of action: oppose, monitor, contact the applicant, or note and move on. If opposition is warranted, IPRHQ supports the preparation of opposition filings with pre-populated case data and relevant evidence from the client's portfolio.
This end-to-end integration — from detection through analysis to action — eliminates the delays inherent in traditional watch-and-refer models where a watch service flags results and a separate law firm handles the response.
Because IPRHQ's AI filters and prioritises results before they reach human review, the volume of marks requiring attorney attention is significantly reduced compared to traditional watch services. Clients pay for analysis and action, not for reviewing hundreds of irrelevant results. This makes comprehensive watching practical even for smaller portfolios that might not justify the cost of a conventional service.
Start with AI-Powered Trademark Clearance before filing. Manage your full IP estate with IP Portfolio Intelligence. Detect and act on infringements with Brand Monitoring & Online Enforcement.
Which trademark offices do you monitor?
IPRHQ screens new deposits across EUIPO, BOIP, WIPO Madrid, and key national offices. The system covers the registers most relevant to European and international brand owners.
How quickly will I be alerted to a conflicting filing?
High-priority alerts are delivered within 24 hours of publication. The system runs continuously rather than in weekly or monthly batches, so conflicts are flagged as soon as they appear in the official gazette.
How does your service differ from traditional watch services?
Traditional services provide long lists with minimal analysis. IPRHQ pre-filters and prioritises results using multimodal AI assessment (visual, phonetic, conceptual similarity plus goods/services overlap), so attorneys only review genuinely relevant conflicts. This means lower costs and faster decisions.
Can you handle the opposition filing if action is needed?
Yes. The opposition workflow is integrated directly into IPRHQ. If a high-priority conflict warrants action, the platform supports preparation of opposition filings with pre-populated case data and evidence from the client's portfolio, and our attorneys handle the proceedings.
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