Argentina’s 2026 Trademark Overhaul: What Foreign Applicants, Correspondents and Business Owners Need to Know

By Gaspar Guardia, Trademark Agent registered with INPI (Agent No. 2197) at Promarca · Updated: October 2026

Between December 2025 and August 2026, Argentina’s National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) rolled out the most significant package of trademark reforms in years. Four measures changed how long registration takes, how official fees are calculated, how parties are notified and how oppositions are resolved. A fifth simplified how trademark assignments are recorded, including for documents signed abroad.

For foreign law firms acting as correspondents, IP managers filing directly and entrepreneurs protecting a brand in Argentina for the first time, these changes affect budgeting, docketing and strategy alike. For a full overview of filing, timelines and costs, see our guide to trademark registration in Argentina.

The 2026 reform at a glance

Faster registration, but less of an official safety net

Resolution 583/2025, published and in force since December 11, 2025, narrowed INPI’s own review of new applications. INPI still checks intrinsic registrability (for example, whether a mark is generic), public-order prohibitions and whether an identical mark is already registered. It no longer examines whether earlier marks are similar or confusingly similar: that is now left entirely to oppositions by third parties. Artificial intelligence supports the initial screening, and once an application is published in the Trademark Bulletin, it is granted if no opposition is filed within 30 calendar days.

For applications filed from March 1, 2026, the key change is the order of the steps. INPI used to publish applications first and examine them afterwards; now it examines them first. The sequence is:

1. Examination. As soon as the application is filed, INPI checks formalities and registrability: absolute grounds and public order.
2. Office actions. If INPI raises an objection, it must be cured for the application to move forward.
3. Publication. Once there are no pending objections, the application is published for one day in the Trademark Bulletin.
4. Opposition period. Third parties have 30 calendar days from publication to oppose. The deadline cannot be extended.
5. Grant. If nobody opposes within that period, the mark is granted. If someone does, the opposition procedure described below applies.

For straightforward filings (no claimed foreign priority, no pending power of attorney formalities, and goods or services taken from INPI’s standard nomenclature), total registration time can now be around two months when no opposition is filed, down from well over a year.

The trade-off matters for anyone managing a portfolio in Argentina: INPI no longer blocks similar third-party applications on its own. If a conflicting mark is filed and the earlier owner does not oppose it in time, INPI can grant it. In practice, a trademark watch is now close to essential for anyone who wants to keep exclusivity in Argentina.

UMAPI: fees that move with inflation

Resolution 75/2026, published on March 20, 2026, updated INPI’s fees from April 1 and, from May 1, 2026, replaced fixed peso fees with UMAPI (Unidad de Medida Arancelaria de la Propiedad Industrial), an indexed unit similar in concept to the UVA used in Argentine mortgages. Each item in INPI’s fee schedule is now expressed as a number of UMAPI units, and the peso value of one UMAPI is updated every month by the consumer price index (IPC) published by INDEC.

To calculate the cost of a procedure, multiply its UMAPI figure by the current monthly UMAPI value. Because the value changes every month, the only reliable source for the current figure and for the UMAPI multiple of each procedure is INPI’s official fee page.

Two practical consequences: a peso quote given one month may be outdated the next, so it is worth pricing in UMAPI internally and converting at the time of payment. And UMAPI does not apply across the board: variable fees, tariff-difference payments and percentage-based charges (for example, on technology transfer agreements) are still calculated the traditional way.

Notifications: no more grace period

Resolution 63/2026, published on February 26, 2026 and in force since March 1, made electronic notification through INPI’s online portal mandatory for office actions (vistas), certain transfers in incidental proceedings and interlocutory decisions, which previously appeared in the printed Trademark Bulletin. Just as important, the roughly 30-day suspension that used to apply before deadlines began to run has been eliminated. Deadlines now start the day after the notification is posted to the portal.

For correspondents and in-house counsel managing Argentine filings from abroad, periodic checks of the Bulletin are no longer enough. Portal accounts need near-continuous monitoring, and local counsel’s contact and electronic address details must be kept current.

A leaner opposition procedure

Resolution 297/2026, published in August 2026, set a new procedure for the administrative resolution of oppositions. It applies to oppositions against applications filed from March 1, 2026; earlier applications follow the old rules. The main change is that there is no longer a separate evidence-production stage: evidence must be offered and attached upfront.

Oppositions are filed within 30 calendar days of publication. After the three-month negotiation period set by the Trademark Law, the opposing party has 15 business days to confirm that it maintains the opposition by paying the fee for each application, and it can expand its grounds and attach evidence at that point. The applicant then has 15 business days to answer and offer its own evidence. Both parties may file final arguments within a common 10-business-day period, and starting mediation or another alternative dispute resolution process suspends that deadline for up to 30 business days. Web links offered as evidence must be identified precisely and accessible, because INPI checks them when it issues its decision.

The upshot: opposition strategy in Argentina now needs to be front-loaded. Evidence that used to be held back for a later stage should be ready at the outset. For deadlines and strategy step by step, see our guide to trademark opposition in Argentina.

Assignments: no apostille for documents signed abroad New 2026

Resolution 162/2026, published in the Official Gazette on May 29, 2026 and effective the same day, introduced new rules for recording assignments and changes of ownership of trademarks, patents and industrial designs. It replaced Resolutions 39/2011 and 61/2020. For foreign owners and correspondents, the headline change is that documents executed abroad, whether they support the recordal request or prove representation, no longer require an apostille or consular legalization.

Some rules still apply. The assignor’s signature must be certified by a notary public, wherever the document is signed, and a signatory acting for a company is presumed to have sufficient powers. Either the assignor or the assignee may request the recordal, and the assignment takes effect from the filing date of the request. The regime covers both registered marks and pending applications. You can read the full text of Resolution 162/2026 in the Official Gazette.

What this means for renewals

Argentina’s renewal framework has not changed. Registrations last ten years from the grant date, and renewal requires the mid-term declaration of use (declaración jurada de uso de medio término), filed between the fifth and sixth anniversaries of registration. It states which goods or services the mark has been used for, without supporting evidence at that stage. INPI will not process a renewal until the declaration has been filed, so missing it puts the registration at risk.

What has changed is the environment: the renewal fee is now calculated in UMAPI (200 UMAPIs within the ordinary period, 400 UMAPIs in the six-month grace period after expiration), and notifications related to a renewal arrive through the electronic portal, on the tighter deadline calendar described above. See our guide to trademark renewal in Argentina for the full process.

Practical checklist for foreign correspondents and applicants

• Notifications: confirm that local counsel’s electronic notification address on INPI’s portal is current and actively monitored.
• Fees: budget filings and renewals in UMAPI and check INPI’s fee page near the time of payment, not a quote from a prior month.
• Watch: put a trademark watch in place so conflicting applications can be opposed within the statutory window, since INPI will no longer catch them.
• Oppositions: prepare evidence and arguments to be filed together from the start.
• Assignments: when buying or selling a mark, have the assignor’s signature certified by a notary; no apostille is needed for documents signed abroad.

None of this changes why Argentina remains a first-to-file jurisdiction worth registering in early. But speed now cuts both ways: registration can be faster, and so can losing ground to someone else’s filing if nobody is watching. If you are unsure whether someone could file your brand first, read Can someone register my brand in Argentina before me?

Frequently asked questions