Should I register my trademark in Bulgaria or across the EU?

It depends on where you sell. A Bulgarian trademark filed with the Bulgarian Patent Office protects your brand nationally; an EU trade mark filed with the EUIPO covers all EU member states in a single application. If you operate — or plan to — beyond Bulgaria, an EUTM is usually the stronger asset. We run a clearance search and advise on the route before you file — and set out the official fees and registration timeline for each option up front, so you choose on the full picture.

Do you draft SaaS terms and software licences for international clients?

Yes. We draft and review terms of service, SaaS subscription and licence agreements, MSAs, SOWs, and NDAs for founders and product teams in Bulgaria, the EU, and internationally — most of it fully remotely. The documents are written to settle ownership and liability plainly, so who owns the code and who carries the risk is clear before a dispute, not after.

Can you handle GDPR compliance for my product?

Yes. We prepare the documents the GDPR expects — privacy policies, data processing agreements, and controller/processor terms — drafted for how your product actually handles personal data, and we flag where your data flows create risk. Enterprise customers often ask for a signed DPA before they sign with you; we get it right before the deadline, not under it.

Who owns the IP when I hire a contractor to build my product?

Don't leave it to the default. Paying for work doesn't reliably put its ownership where you assume it sits, and a gap here surfaces at the worst moment — a raise, a sale, a dispute. So we make ownership explicit in the contract: contractor and development agreements that assign the IP to the company from the start, settled in writing regardless of what the underlying rule would otherwise say. Where a gap already exists, we clean it up during IP due diligence before a raise or sale.

Do I have to travel to Bulgaria to work with you?

In most cases, no. Trademark filings, contract drafting, licensing, and GDPR work are handled fully remotely, with documents and signatures coordinated at a distance. And we'll flag any step that needs notarisation, apostille, or your presence — early, so it never lands as a surprise.

Who will actually handle my matter?

Jonathan Marsh, Partner for IP & Technology, leads IP and technology matters — the senior attorney you meet is the one doing the work. No leverage pyramid, no matter handed down the ladder. Your first 20-minute consultation is with a senior attorney in the relevant practice, not an intake screener.

IP Lawyer in Bulgaria | Apex & Pillar LLC, Sofia

What does an IP and technology lawyer in Bulgaria do?

An IP and technology lawyer in Bulgaria protects and commercialises what a company creates: registering trademarks, papering software and SaaS deals, licensing intellectual property, guarding trade secrets, and keeping data handling compliant with the GDPR. At Apex & Pillar that runs from a first trademark filing through the contracts that move your product to market.

We work with three kinds of client:

Founders and product teams who need what they build protected and their commercial terms drafted to hold up.
Agencies and studios licensing work to clients — or licensing IP in — who want the ownership and usage rights settled in writing, not assumed.
Companies buying, selling, or raising who need IP diligenced before the deal closes.

You get one fee posture on all of it: flat fees wherever the scope allows, transparent hourly rates otherwise, and a written scope, written fee, and agreed timeline before the work starts. The invoice should never be the interesting document.

How do you register a trademark in Bulgaria and the EU?

You can protect a brand nationally through a Bulgarian trademark filed with the Bulgarian Patent Office, or across the whole single market through an EU trade mark (EUTM) filed with the EUIPO — one application covering all EU member states. Which one you need depends on where you sell and where you plan to. We advise on the choice, run a clearance search before you file, then handle the application, examination, and any office actions through to registration.

What trademark work with us covers:

Choosing the right route — national (Bulgarian Patent Office) or EU-wide (EUIPO) — for where your business actually operates.
A clearance search before you file, so a conflict surfaces on paper, not after launch.
Filing, classification of goods and services, and managing the examination process.
Responding to objections and oppositions, and advising on international protection — including filings beyond Bulgaria and the EU — where you sell outside the single market.

Each route carries its own official filing fees and its own registration timeline. We set both out for you up front — what the office charges and how long it typically runs — so the cost and the wait are on the table before you file, not a surprise afterward.

A registered trademark is a company asset, not a formality — it's what lets you stop a copycat and what a buyer or investor checks first. We settle ownership so the mark sits with the company, not accidentally with a founder or a former contractor.

Do you draft SaaS terms and software contracts?

Yes. We draft and review the contracts a software business runs on — terms of service, SaaS subscription and licence agreements, master service agreements, statements of work, NDAs, and contractor IP-assignment agreements. The point of these documents is to say what you actually agreed: who owns the code, what the customer is allowed to do with it, what happens when something breaks, and how either side walks away.

For a SaaS or product company, two questions cause the most trouble later: who owns what was built, and who carries the risk when it fails. We write both in plain language you can act on without a translator, then attach the data-protection terms the GDPR requires (see below).

Our technology-contract work covers:

SaaS and licensing terms — subscription, licence, and usage agreements that match how your product is actually sold.
Development and services contracts — MSAs, SOWs, and contractor agreements with IP ownership assigned to the company, not left ambiguous.
Customer and vendor terms — the commercial contracts a tech company signs to operate, drafted or reviewed to hold up.

How do you handle GDPR and data protection in Bulgaria?

Under the GDPR — which applies directly in Bulgaria as an EU member state — any company handling personal data needs the right paperwork and the right practices behind it. We prepare the documents that make a product compliant: privacy policies, data processing agreements (DPAs) between controllers and processors, consent and cookie mechanics, and the internal records the regulation expects — and we tell you plainly where your actual data flows create risk.

This matters most when you're a processor handling your customers' data, or a controller collecting from EU users. Enterprise customers will ask for a signed DPA before they sign with you; getting it right early is cheaper than retrofitting it under a deadline.

Compliance documents — privacy notices, DPAs, and controller/processor terms drafted for how your product actually handles data.
Practical review — where your data flows meet the GDPR, and where they don't yet.
Cross-border transfers — we advise on the terms and safeguards the GDPR expects when data moves outside the EU, so a transfer holds up rather than becoming a liability.

What we do not do is guarantee an outcome — no honest lawyer can. What we do is get the documents right and flag the risk before a regulator or a customer does.

What about licensing, trade secrets, and IP due diligence?

We handle the transactions that move IP between parties and the protection that keeps it yours. On licensing and IP transactions, we draft the agreements that let you license technology in or out — the scope, the royalty terms, the territory, and the exit. On trade secrets, we build the contractual and practical protection (NDAs, confidentiality terms, contractor obligations) around the things you don't register but can't afford to lose. On IP due diligence, we check that the company owns what it says it owns before you buy it, raise on it, or sell it.

IP licensing & transactions — inbound and outbound licences, assignments, and technology-transfer agreements.
Trade-secret protection — NDAs, confidentiality and non-use terms, and the contractor arrangements that keep know-how with the company.
IP due diligence — verifying ownership of trademarks, code, and content in a financing, acquisition, or sale, so the assets you're paying for are actually there.

How we work

Senior attention. Your matter is led by Jonathan Marsh — the attorney you met. No leverage pyramid, no surprise associates.
Transparent pricing. Flat fees wherever the scope allows; transparent hourly rates otherwise.
Written before the work. Written scope, written fee, agreed timeline — before anyone starts.
We respond. A reply within one business day, usually sooner; urgent matters triaged same day.
Confidential from the first call. Everything you share is confidential from first contact, before any engagement is signed.

Book a free consultation

Start with a free 20-minute consultation with a senior IP & technology attorney — not an intake screener. Bring the trademark you're clearing, the SaaS terms you're drafting, or the data question keeping a deal from closing, and you'll get a direct answer and a clear next step.

Book a free consultation. — office@apexpillar.org · +359 889 758 858

IP & Technology Lawyer in Bulgaria