The IPOI API for trademark search

The Intellectual Property Office of Ireland (IPOI) is the Irish national authority responsible for examining and registering trade marks, patents, designs, and supplementary protection certificates in Ireland. It operates under the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and has been headquartered in Kilkenny since 1998, when the office relocated from Dublin as part of a public-sector decentralisation programme. The office was known as the Patents Office for most of its history; it was rebranded as the Intellectual Property Office of Ireland on 2 December 2019 under Section 42 of the Copyright and Other Intellectual Property Law Provisions Act 2019, reflecting its broader remit beyond patents. The register operates under the Trade Marks Act 1996 and the Trade Marks Rules 1996, and IPOI received 2,336 national trade mark applications in 2024 — a 5.3% increase on the prior year, with 1,949 registered.

Ireland's strategic importance to the trademark world changed materially after Brexit. As of 1 January 2021, Ireland became the only English-native EU member state with a common-law legal tradition, and Dublin's Commercial Court is now the only English-speaking court in the EU empowered to grant pan-EU injunctions on EUTMs and Registered Community Designs. For brand owners who want EU coverage but need to litigate in English under a familiar common-law framework, Ireland is the post-Brexit gateway — and the IPOI national register sits alongside that posture as the dedicated Irish filing route. Ireland ratified the Madrid Protocol on 19 July 2001 and the Protocol entered into force in respect of Ireland on 19 October 2001, so Ireland can be designated through WIPO international registrations or filed at IPOI directly. Most applicants seeking broad European protection file an EU trademark at EUIPO, which automatically covers Ireland; IPOI's national register is for the case where applicants only need Irish protection, want an earlier Irish seniority date, are responding to EU-wide prior rights that would block a wider EUTM, or want examination and any opposition or hearing to run in English under Irish common law.

IPOI exposes the register through the eRegister web search at eregister.ipoi.gov.ie, a free, public, English-language register that anyone can query without registration. IPOI publishes the IPOI Journal as the official gazette for new applications and registrations, and oppositions must be filed within three months of journal publication under section 43 of the Trade Marks Act 1996. Rule 77 of the Trade Marks Rules 1996 covers bulk and programmatic access. It provides a licence to use part or all of the computerised trade mark database for a €125 connection fee plus €70 per fortnightly update. The IPOI register is not on Signa yet. Irish marks reach Signa today through WIPO Madrid designations, and EU trademarks from EUIPO, which cover Ireland, are searchable today. Join the waitlist to hear when the IPOI register is added.