TL;DR: The cost of registering a trademark in Argentina has two parts: INPI’s official fees, charged per class, and professional fees for the search, filing, and any opposition. Since Resolution 75/2026, INPI’s official fees are calculated in a new tariff unit called the UMAPI, whose peso value is adjusted every month for inflation. This means any peso figure you find online has a short shelf life. The number of classes you file in remains the single biggest driver of your official cost, and discounts are available for SMEs and individual applicants.
Quick overview: This guide explains the two components of Argentine trademark cost, how the new UMAPI system works and why it changes how you should budget, what drives the total (classes, oppositions, objections), the costs that arrive after registration, and how to plan a filing sensibly in an environment where official fees move monthly.
Most guides to Argentine trademark costs will give you a number in pesos. Almost all of them are now wrong, and they get more wrong every month.
That is not carelessness on their part. It is because Argentina changed how INPI charges for trademarks in 2026, introducing a tariff unit that is re-indexed to inflation every single month. A peso figure that was accurate in April is stale by June. If you are budgeting for a trademark filing in Argentina, the useful thing to understand is not a number but the mechanism, because the mechanism is what lets you work out the current cost at the moment you actually file.
This guide explains how Argentine trademark fees now work, what drives your total, and how to budget properly.
The Two Components of Trademark Cost in Argentina
Every trademark filing in Argentina carries two distinct types of cost, and conflating them is the most common budgeting error.
Official fees are what INPI charges to process your application. They are set by regulation, published by INPI, and charged per class. They cover the application itself, and later, separate official fees apply to renewals, oppositions, and various procedural steps.
Professional fees are what you pay a lawyer or agent for the work: the clearance search before filing, preparing and filing the application, handling any objection from INPI, defending an opposition if one is filed, and managing the file through to registration. These vary by provider and by how the work is priced, hourly or fixed-fee.
The official fee is largely outside anyone’s control. The professional fee is where you can get certainty, if you work with someone who quotes fixed fees agreed upfront rather than billing by the hour.
How INPI Fees Now Work: The UMAPI System
This is the change that makes most existing cost guides unreliable, and it is worth understanding properly.
In March 2026, INPI published Resolution 75/2026, restructuring its entire official fee schedule with effect from April 2026. The resolution introduced a new tariff unit called the UMAPI (Unidad de Medida Arancelaria de la Propiedad Industrial). Rather than fixing fees as peso amounts that gradually erode with inflation and then get corrected years later in a large jump, INPI now expresses each fee as a number of UMAPIs, and adjusts the peso value of the UMAPI itself.
The UMAPI’s initial value was set at ARS 360, defined as one-hundredth of the fee for a new trademark application in a single class. From May 2026 onwards, the peso value of the UMAPI is updated every month, based on the consumer price index for the preceding month, with the new value taking effect on the first day of the following month and published on INPI’s portal.
Two practical consequences follow, and both matter for budgeting.
First, any peso quote has a shelf life measured in weeks. If someone quotes you an official fee in pesos, ask when that figure was valid. It will be correct for the month it was issued and progressively wrong afterwards. This is the single most important thing to understand about Argentine trademark costs in 2026.
Second, the mechanism is more useful than the number. Because fees are expressed in UMAPIs and the UMAPI value is published monthly, the reliable way to establish your cost is to check the current UMAPI value against the UMAPI figure for the procedure you need, at the moment you file. That is what your Argentine counsel should be doing for you rather than quoting from a stale table.
The UMAPI system does not apply universally. Certain fees fall outside it, including variable fees and those calculated as a percentage of contract value, such as technology transfer registrations.
What Actually Drives Your Total Cost
Four things determine what a trademark filing in Argentina ends up costing you.
The number of classes. This is by far the largest driver of official fees, because INPI charges per class. A single-class filing costs a fraction of a five-class filing. This makes classification a genuinely commercial decision, not just a technical one, and it cuts both ways: file too narrowly and you leave parts of your business unprotected, file too broadly and you pay for classes you may not be able to defend, since unused classes are vulnerable to non-use cancellation after five years.
Whether your application is opposed. An uncontested application is the cheapest path. An opposition adds both official fees and significant professional work, and can extend the timeline considerably. This is precisely why the clearance search matters so much: the search is a small, predictable cost that exists to help you avoid a large, unpredictable one.
Whether INPI raises an objection. Even under the narrowed examination, INPI can object on absolute grounds, lack of distinctiveness or public policy issues. Responding to an objection is additional work and additional cost.
Your applicant status. Fee discounts are available for SMEs and individual applicants, which can meaningfully reduce the official cost. It is worth checking whether you qualify before filing.
The Clearance Search: A Cost That Saves Money
Under Argentina’s 2026 reforms, INPI no longer examines applications for conflicts with similar earlier marks. It checks only absolute grounds, distinctiveness and public policy. Conflicts with existing similar marks are raised only if a third party files an opposition.
That change has a direct cost implication that most people miss. The clearance search used to be a sensible precaution layered on top of INPI’s own conflict check. It is now doing work that the office simply no longer does. Skipping it does not save you money; it converts a small, known cost into a substantial, unknown risk, because a conflicting mark you failed to find will not be caught by an examiner. It will surface as an opposition, after you have paid your official fees and waited months. Our complete guide to registering a trademark in Argentina explains this shift and what it means at each stage.
The economics are straightforward: a search costs a fraction of an opposition defence, and it is the only thing standing between you and a conflict nobody else is going to flag.
The Costs That Come After Registration
Registration is not the last time you pay, and budgeting only for the filing is a mistake.
Renewal. An Argentine registration lasts ten years and is renewable indefinitely in ten-year terms. Renewal carries its own official fee and should be filed within the six months before expiry. A six-month grace period follows, but with a surcharge, so late renewal costs more.
Declarations of use. Argentina requires sworn declarations of use at defined points in a registration’s life, including a mid-term declaration. These are administrative but mandatory, and failing to file them puts the registration at risk.
Watching and enforcement. This is a new cost consideration created directly by the reforms. Because INPI no longer screens for conflicts and has abolished warning notices for applications filed from March 2026, nobody is watching for applications that conflict with your mark except you. Protecting a registration in Argentina now realistically requires monitoring the Trademark Gazette and being prepared to oppose within the strict 30-day window. Our trademark watch service exists precisely for this, and in Argentina it has moved from a nice-to-have to something close to essential.
How to Budget for an Argentine Trademark Filing
A sensible budgeting approach in the current environment looks like this. Establish how many classes you genuinely need, since that drives official cost more than anything else. Get the official fee calculated against the current UMAPI value at the time you file, not from a published table that may be months old. Get the professional fee quoted as a fixed fee agreed upfront, so at least that half of the cost is certain. Budget separately, as a contingency, for the possibility of an objection or opposition, and treat the clearance search as the thing that keeps that contingency from being triggered. And plan for the ongoing costs, renewal, declarations of use, and watching, rather than treating registration as a one-off purchase.
We work on fixed professional fees agreed before any work begins, with the official fee calculated at the current rate, so you know what you are paying before you commit. You can see how that works on our trademark registration in Argentina page.
Conclusion
The honest answer to “what does a trademark cost in Argentina” is that the official portion is now a moving figure, re-indexed monthly, and the only reliable way to know it is to calculate it against the current UMAPI value on the day you file. Three things are worth holding onto. First, the number of classes is the biggest lever on official cost, so classify deliberately rather than defensively. Second, the clearance search is no longer optional in cost terms, because INPI has stopped catching conflicts and an opposition costs far more than a search. Third, budget beyond the filing, since renewal, declarations of use, and the watching that the reforms have made necessary are all real ongoing costs.
If you would like a precise, fixed-fee quote for an Argentine trademark filing, calculated against current INPI rates, we can provide one, along with a clearance search before anything is filed. Visit our trademark registration in Argentina page, or see our full range of legal services in Argentina.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to register a trademark in Argentina?
The cost has two parts: INPI’s official fees, charged per class, and professional fees for the search, filing, and any objection or opposition. Since Resolution 75/2026, official fees are calculated in a tariff unit called the UMAPI, whose peso value is adjusted monthly for inflation, so any peso figure quoted online is only accurate for the month it was published. The reliable approach is to have the official fee calculated against the current UMAPI value at the time of filing.
What is the UMAPI and why does it matter?
The UMAPI (Unidad de Medida Arancelaria de la Propiedad Industrial) is a tariff unit introduced by INPI under Resolution 75/2026, effective April 2026. Instead of fixing fees as peso amounts, INPI expresses each fee as a number of UMAPIs and adjusts the peso value of the UMAPI itself every month based on the previous month’s consumer price index. Its initial value was ARS 360. It matters because it means official trademark fees in Argentina change monthly, so published peso figures go stale quickly.
Does the number of classes affect the cost?
Yes, significantly. INPI charges official fees per class, so the number of classes you file in is the single biggest driver of your official cost. This makes classification a commercial decision as well as a technical one. Filing too narrowly leaves parts of your business unprotected, while filing too broadly means paying for classes you may struggle to defend, since classes you do not genuinely use become vulnerable to non-use cancellation after five years.
Are there fee discounts for small businesses in Argentina?
Yes. INPI’s fee schedule provides for reduced official fees for SMEs and individual applicants. Whether you qualify depends on your circumstances, and it is worth confirming before filing, since the discount can meaningfully reduce the official cost of a registration.
Is the clearance search worth paying for?
Under the current system, yes, more than ever. Following the 2025-2026 reforms, INPI no longer examines applications for conflicts with similar earlier marks; it checks only absolute grounds such as distinctiveness and public policy. A conflicting earlier mark will therefore not be flagged by an examiner and will instead surface as an opposition, after you have already paid official fees and waited months. A search costs a fraction of defending an opposition, which makes it the cheapest risk reduction available.
What ongoing costs apply after registration?
An Argentine registration lasts ten years and must be renewed, with renewal filed within the six months before expiry (a six-month grace period follows, with a surcharge). Argentina also requires sworn declarations of use at defined points during the registration’s life. In addition, because INPI no longer screens for conflicting applications and has abolished warning notices, monitoring the Trademark Gazette for conflicting filings has become a practical necessity for protecting your rights, which is an ongoing cost worth budgeting for.
Written by María Laura Cristín
María Laura Cristín is an Argentine attorney admitted to practise before the Santa Fe Bar Association since 2015. She advises businesses and international clients on trademark registration, intellectual property, corporate law, contracts, market entry, regulatory compliance, dispute resolution, and commercial matters in Argentina. Her local knowledge helps ensure trademark filings before INPI comply with Argentine legal and procedural requirements, while providing on-the-ground support wherever local representation is needed. She works as part of My Legal Pal’s Argentina legal team, combining centralised client management with experienced local legal professionals, so businesses can expand internationally through a single trusted legal partner.
This article is published for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice. INPI’s official fees are revised monthly under the UMAPI system and are subject to change. Always confirm current fees and obtain advice specific to your situation from a qualified Argentine attorney.
