The Trademark Office is in charge of the analysis and decision-making in matters related to the applications of Registry and Renewal.
Law Nº 1.294/98 - 06/08/98 and its regulatory decree Nº 22.365/98 - 14/08/98 establish its functions.
Trademarks of Products and Services
Trademarks are all signs that serve to distinguish products or services of certain denomination from those of their competitors. They can be denominative, emblematic or mixed, olfactory, three-dimensional.
Trademarks may consist of one or more words, themes, emblems, monograms, stamps, vignettes, embossments; names, fantasy words, letters and numbers with different forms or combinations; combinations and disposition of colors, labels, containers and wrappings.
Trademarks may also consist of the shape, presentation or conditioning of products or of their containers or wrappings, or of the means or places of sale of the products or corresponding services. This list is simply illustrative.
Importance of a trademark
A product or service without its pertinent trademark, as good as it may be, does not commercially have the same value, due to the fact that it is impossible to distinguish it from a similar one from a different source or origin. Thanks to a trademark, consumers are able to identify and acquire a product or service adapted to their desires or necessities, by its character and quality, guaranteed by its characteristic sign.
The importance of a trademark registration for a title holder who has a good image and reputation lies in the clear advantage provided to the enterprise over its competitors.
Benefits of a trademark registration
Registration of a trademark grants the owner not only the right of its exclusive use in all the territory of the Republic of Paraguay but also the right to distinguish the products or services from similar ones existent in all the country.
Registration grants manufacturers or businessmen a protection against individuals that try to take advantage of the renown acquired by others.
Types of trademarks Denominative: may consist of words or group of words, embossed letters in any alphabet. The guarantee for this type of trademark is made up of the word in itself and not by the form in which it is written. e.g. Yboty Figurative: consists exclusively of the design, image. Or any type of graphic sign that does not contain nominative elements. e.g. Combined: when it consists, simultaneously, of nominative or figurative elements, or nominative elements with sufficient distinction of the usual writing. e.g. Yboty Trademark registration
To incorporate a trademark in the Registry, each application is first submitted to a form examination to verify that it complies with all the requirements to that effect.
Subsequently, once the examination has been approved, an order of publication is issued that will prompt the publication of the trademark registration in a capital city newspaper for three (3) consecutive days. After that, a lapse of time mandatory by law should pass to allow third parties -- eventually affected in their rights-- filing oppositions.
The Secretariat of Legal Affairs handles opposition cases and is in charge of their processing and settlement.
Once the legal time had elapsed, in absence of opposition, the applicant or his duly representative submits the newspaper publications as an attachment to his application. Subsequently the application is forwarded to the office in charge of the examination of registrability.
This examination consists in the search of precedents and in an analysis on the viability of the trademark registration. In absence of impediments, the trademark is granted through a Resolution; a registry number and date of concession are assigned, and finally a certificate of registration is granted to the interested party.
Naturally, once the trademark is registered it may be subject to changes, use licensing and transferences.
If precedents are found when the examination of registrability takes place, be it risk of confusion or association with an already registered mark, or infringement of any of the prohibitions provided in the Law, the Trademark Office will reject the trademark.
There is an additional analysis in case the trademark is figurative, that is to say, when the object of protection is an individual graphic element, or combined (mixed), when the graphic element accompanies a denomination. In these cases, an examination in search of precedents is done through a classification specifically developed to the effect, rather than using the normal process applied in the same forms that for a denominative trademark.
If no inconvenient results from the studies is found and in absence of any legal impediment, the registration of a trademark is granted and a title is issued to the interested party.
Term of validity
The registration of a trademark shall have a validity of 10 years, commencing on the date that the registration is granted, and may be renewed indefinitely for like periods.
Trademark Renewal
The process for a trademark renewal is much simpler. The process starts with a formal examination, followed by an immediate order of publication, which in this case is only for one day.
Subsequently, newspapers issues are attached, and without the requirement of waiting for the expiration of the term allowed for opposition, the trademark registration is renewed through a Resolution, and a title is issued to the applicant.
Trademark opposition
The Secretariat of Legal Affairs is in charge of all the oppositions to trademark applications filed before the Office of Industrial Property, which may be done by physical or juridical persons, nationals or foreigners.
The opposition, unfailingly, should be filed before the Office of Industrial Property by an agent of the industrial property, that is to say, a licensed attorney that may act as a proxy or representative.
To expedite the process of filing oppositions, since 2005, the Office of Legal Affairs has two courts with identical competences. The Second Court was created by Resolution No. 290, dated September 15, 2005, “by which the Secretariat of Legal Affairs is restructured, dividing the Department in two courts, to optimize the filing of oppositions” This second Court has been created to optimize the filing of the great number of files that they handle, adding up to approximately 4,000 or 5,000 files per year.
Source: Ministry of Industry and Commerce of Paraguay
Translated by: United States Embassy in Paraguay |
