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Registration of trademark in the Czech Republic
In the Czech Republic, a trademark can be registered in three ways:
- According to national procedure;
- According to regional procedure - an application is submitted for a single EU trademark;
- According to international procedure.
The most popular and effective one is the national procedure for registration of trademark in the Czech Republic, so let’s consider its peculiarities.
Any legal or natural person has the right to apply to the Industrial Property Office (IPO) for trademark registration. Two-stage examination of trademark is conducted, namely:
- Formal verification of the compliance of the application with the requirements of the law;
- Substantive examination.
It is necessary to attach a stipulated package of documents to the application and pay the registration fee.
In accordance with the Law on trademarks adopted in 2003, trademark in the Czech Republic may include any designations represented in graphical form, namely: words (including personal names), letters, holograms, pictures, colors, figures, the image of the product or its packaging. Even sounds can designate trademark, but only those represented graphically in the form of notes.
After that, the application is published in the weekly edition of the Official Gazette of the Office. It should be noted that the period from the submission of the application to its publication can take from one week to one year. From the moment of publication, third parties have the right to file their objections within three months.
If no objections have been filed during this time, information on the trademark is entered by the Office into the Register. The whole procedure for registering trademark in the Czech Republic usually takes 9-12 months.
Trademark protection is valid for ten years from the date of filing of the application, then it can be renewed for the same period upon the request of the owner.
Specialists of Law&Trust will help in registering trademark in the Czech Republic.
