One of the most valuable assets of a business is it’s intellectual property.
A Trademark (logo) can be a very important asset that helps distinguish the products and services of one business from those of another.
Cyprus law recognises and provides protection to one’s intellectual property.
What is a trademark?
A Trademark is a type of intellectual property that helps tell apart the products and goods of one business from those of another.
Trademarks are often associated with logos, but can be a lot more than just that.
A trademark can include for example: name of persons, pictures, words, letters, numbers, colours, the shape of a package or the shape of the product, or sounds.
A trademark needs to be distinct from other Trademarks.
Why Register?
Cyprus law provides the option to businesses to register their Trademarks. Registration provides the holder of the TM with the right to prevent others from using the same or similar mark.
As such, if there is a registered trademark, a similar trademark cannot be registered again.
It is important to mention that the trademark is a valuable asset of the business owner.
If a company or an organisation has already its own trademark (logo) no any other organisation or person can do either something similar or the same. If an organisation try to do a similar trademark with other organisation, the owner can take legal action.
A trademark may also be sold or even licensed to other parties for valuable consideration.
Registration Procedure in Cyprus
In order to register a trademark in Cyprus, an application needs to be filed with the Competent Authorities. Trademark registration applications are filed by practising lawyers.
Trademarks are registered for specific classes of goods and services. The Nice Classification, which governs the classification of Trademarks, provides 45 different classes of goods and services for which a trademark may be registered (i.e. Food Products, Real Estate Services etc).
Under Cyprus law, the trademark registration is valid for an initial period of 10 years from date of filing and may then be renewed for further 10-year periods. If the application is accepted, the TM is published in the Official Gazette for a period of 3 months, during which objections may be filed. If no objections are filed, the TM will be registered in the name of the applicant. The application process takes about 6-8 months and if successful, protection is granted from the date of filing of the application.
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