Trade marks

Act No. 506/2009 Coll. on Trademarks, as amended, establishes the conditions for the so-called registration eligibility of a trade mark.

A trademark may be a word, pictorial, spatial, positional sign, a sign of a design, a sign consisting of a single colour or a combination of colours without outlines, a sound sign, a movement sign, a multimedia sign, a holographic sign or any other sign which is capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one person from the goods or services of another person. 

The Act also specifies in detail the signs that cannot be registered as trade marks. These include, for example, signs that lack distinctive character, signs that merely describe the nature, quality or intended purpose of goods and services, misleading signs, or signs that are contrary to public policy and public morals.

Similarly, a sign against which well-founded objections have been lodged by an authorised person will not be entered in the register.

An application for the registration of a trade mark may be filed by any legal or natural person.

The validity of a trade mark registration is 10 years from the date of filing the trade mark application. At the request of the trade mark proprietor, a secured creditor or any other person who demonstrates a legal interest, the Office shall renew the validity of the trade mark registration, upon payment of the administrative fee, for a further 10 years.

 

Four reasons to protect intellectual property - Trade marks

1. Product identification
2. increase protection against counterfeiting
3. image and reputation building
4. Stabilising market position