Cyprus Trademark Registration

Trademarks are signs used in trade to identify products. Your trademark is the symbol your customers use to pick you out. It distinguishes you from your competitors. You can protect and build upon your trademark if you register it. In some countries, you can also get protection even if your trademark is not registered, as long as it is used.
However, you are well advised to register it in order to obtain the best protection.

In the EU, there is a four-tier system for registering trademarks. What you choose depends on the needs of your business.

• If you just want protection in Cyprus because your business is located there or is the place where you want to trade, we can file a trademark application directly at the relevant national IP office. This is the national route. In Cyprus, the national IP Office is the Department of Registrar of Companies and Official Receiver.
• If you want protection in Belgium, the Netherlands and/or Luxembourg, we can make an application to the Benelux Office of Intellectual Property (BOIP), the only regional-level IP office in the EU, for trademark protection in those three Member States. This is the regional route.
• If you want protection in more Member States of the EU, we can apply for an EU trademark via EUIPO (European Union Intellectual Property Office). This is the European route.
• The fourth route to protection in the EU is the international route. You can use your national, regional or EU trademark application to expand your protection internationally, to any country that is a signatory of the Madrid Protocol. Such application can be filed via WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization).

Once you have a product or service and think you have a name for it a trademark search is an important first step before you spend time and money applying. The search will reveal existing marks that are identical or similar to your planned trademark.

Should the search reveal no identical or similar marks then a trademark application must be filed. After the filing of the application, the trademark will be published so as to give the opportunity to anyone who may wish to object its registration. If no objection is filed, then the registration certificate will be issued. If an objection is filed both parties will have to file their pleadings with evidence and the competent authority will decide whether the trademark will be registered or not.

A Cyprus trademark is valid for seven years from the date of the application and thereafter It can be renewed every fourteen years.
A European Union trademark (EUTM) is valid for 10 years. It can be renewed indefinitely, for 10 years at a time.
The content of this article intends to provide an overview of the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought on each particular case. Our expertise can provide any legal information related to registration, administration, maintenance, search, oppositions and renewals of trademarks, either in Cyprus, Europe or internationally. For any further information, please contact us.