What is a Trademark?

A trademark or a service mark is an apparent sign, which makes it possible to distinguish the goods presented or the services provided by a natural or a juridical person.

In particular this sign may consist of:

All forms of designations such as: Words, groups of words, surnames, geographical names, pseudonyms, letters, numbers and symbols.

Graphic signs such as: Drawings, holograms and shapes in particular those related to the product, its method of presentation, or those which distinguish the services, the arrangements of colors, the mixings of colors or the separation of the grades of colors.

Phonic signs such as musical tunes and sentences.

General Information:

Classification of Goods / Services: International Nice classification-9^th Edition (class 01 to 45). A trademark may be filed in any number of classes of goods and/or services.

Time from filing to registration: 14 months.

Registration duration: 10 years from filing date. It is worth mentioning that the protection period for 15 years is still being adopted only for trademarks applications that were filed before April 2001, while those filed thereafter are valid for ten years.

Renewal: Renewal is for ten years and should be filed within the last 6 months of validity. The new ten years period shall be calculated as from the end of the previous protection period.

Opposition Period: 2 months after publication in the Official Gazette

Use: Use of a trademark within a period of 5 years from date of registration is a must by law.

Why should you register a trademark?

•          a trademark registration gives birth to a property right and hence confers a monopoly on the chosen designation or sign, in relation with the goods or services covered

• a trademark registration gives you the right to freely use your brand (provided that no prior rights exist) and to oppose to the use and reproduction of your brand by third parties, in relation with similar goods or services.

 Your trademark is thus an asset which needs to be protected by becoming your own property. Promoting your brand and making it grow makes however sense only if it is efficiently protected and if the substantial investments related to its development allow you having the exclusive benefit of its use.

This is the reason why we also propose watch services to monitor the filing of possible identical or similar trademarks by third parties.

We, at Cabinet Younsi, have extensive experience with trademark protection, helping companies select names that can be protected by trademark law, and assisting clients with registration and infringement matters.