TRADEMARK LAW TREATY TRADEMARK LAW TREATY Geneva, 27 October 1994 Article 1 Abbreviated expressions For the purposes of this Treaty, unless expressly stated otherwise: (
- i)"Office" means the agency entrusted by a Contracting Party with the registration of marks; (
- ii)"registration" means the registration of a mark by an Office; (iii) "application" means an application for registration; (
- iv)references to a "person" shall be construed as references to both a natural person and a legal entity; (
- v)"holder" means the person whom the register of marks shows as the holder of the registration; (
- vi)"register of marks" means the collection of data maintained by an Office, which includes the contents of all registrations and all data recorded in respect of all registrations, irrespective of the medium in which such data are stored; (vii) "Paris Convention" means the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, signed at Paris on 20 March 1883, as revised and amended; (viii) "Nice Classification" means the classification established by the Nice Agreement concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks, signed at Nice on 15 June 1957, as revised and amended; (
- ix)"Contracting Party" means any State or intergovernmental organization party to this Treaty; (
- x)references to an "instrument of ratification" shall be construed as including references to instruments of acceptance and approval; (
- xi)"Organization" means the World Intellectual Property Organization; (xii) "Director General" means the Director General of the Organization; (xiii) "Regulations" means the Regulations under this Treaty that are referred to in Article 17. Article 2 Marks to which the Treaty applies
(1)[Nature of marks] (
- a)This Treaty shall apply to marks consisting of visible signs, provided that only those Contracting Parties which accept for registration three-dimensional marks shall be obliged to apply this Treaty to such marks. (
- b)This Treaty shall not apply to hologram marks and to marks not consisting of visible signs, in particular, sound marks and olfactory marks.
(2)[Kinds of marks] (
- a)This Treaty shall apply to marks relating to goods (trademarks) or services (service marks) or both goods and services. (
- b)This Treaty shall not apply to collective marks, certification marks and guarantee marks. Article 3 Application
(1)[Indications or elements contained in or accompanying an application; Fee] (
- a)Any Contracting Party may require that an application contain some or all of the following indications or elements: (
- i)a request for registration; (
- ii)the name and address of the applicant; (iii) the name of a State of which the applicant is a national if he is the national of any State, the name of a State in which the applicant has his domicile, if any, and the name of a State in which the applicant has a real and effective industrial or commercial establishment, if any; (
- iv)where the applicant is a legal entity, the legal nature of that legal entity and the State, and, where applicable, the territorial unit within that State, under the law of which the said legal entity has been organized; (
- v)where the applicant has a representative, the name and address of that representative; (
- vi)where an address for service is required under Article 4
(2)(b), such address; (vii) where the applicant wishes to take advantage of the priority of an earlier application, a declaration claiming the priority of that earlier application, together with indications and evidence in support of the declaration of priority that may be required pursuant to Article 4 of the Paris Convention; (viii) where the applicant wishes to take advantage of any protection resulting from the display of goods and/or services in an exhibition, a declaration to that effect, together with indications in support of that declaration, as required by the law of the Contracting Party; (
- ix)where the Office of the Contracting Party uses characters (letters and numbers) that it considers as being standard and where the applicant wishes that the mark be registered and published in standard characters, a statement to that effect; (
- x)where the applicant wishes to claim color as a distinctive feature of the mark, a statement to that effect as well as the name or names of the color or colors claimed and an indication, in respect of each color, of the principal parts of the mark which are in that color; (
- xi)where the mark is a three-dimensional mark, a statement to that effect; (xii) one or more reproductions of the mark; (xiii) a transliteration of the mark or of certain parts of the mark; (xiv) a translation of the mark or of certain parts of the mark; (
- xv)the names of the goods and/or services for which the registration is sought, grouped according to the classes of the Nice Classification, each group preceded by the number of the class of that Classification to which that group of goods or services belongs and presented in the order of the classes of the said Classification; (xvi) a signature by the person specified in paragraph
(4); (xvii) a declaration of intention to use the mark, as required by the law of the Contracting Party. (
- b)The applicant may file, instead of or in addition to the declaration of intention to use the mark referred to in subparagraph (a)(xvii), a declaration of actual use of the mark and evidence to that effect, as required by the law of the Contracting Party. (
- c)Any Contracting Party may require that, in respect of the application, fees be paid to the Office.
(2)[Presentation] As regards the requirements concerning the presentation of the application, no Contracting Party shall refuse the application, (
- i)where the application is presented in writing on paper, if it is presented, subject to paragraph 3, on a form corresponding to the application Form provided for in the Regulations, (
- ii)where the Contracting Party allows the transmittal of communications to the Office by telefacsimile and the application is so transmitted, if the paper copy resulting from such transmittal corresponds, subject to paragraph
(3), to the application Form referred to in item (i).
(3)[Language] Any Contracting Party may require that the application by in the language, or in one of the languages, admitted by the Office. Where the Office admits more than one language, the applicant may be required to comply with any other language requirement applicable with respect to the Office, provided that the application may not be required to be in more than one language.
(4)[Signature} (a) The signature referred to in paragraph
(1)(a)(xvi) may be the signature of the applicant or the signature of his representative. (b) Notwithstanding subparagraph (a), any Contracting Party may require that the declarations referred to in paragraph
(1)(a)(xvii) and (b) be signed by the applicant himself even if he has a representative.
(5)[Single application for goods and/or services in several classes] One and the same application may relate to several goods and/or services, irrespective of whether they belong to one class or to several classes of the Nice Classification.
(6)[Actual use] Any Contracting Party may require that, where a declaration of intention to use has been filed under paragraph
(1)(a)(xvii), the applicant furnish to the Office within a time limit fixed in its law, subject to the minimum time limit prescribed in the Regulations, evidence of the actual use of the mark, as required by the said law.
(7)[Prohibition of other requirements] No Contracting Party may demand that requirements other than those referred to in paragraphs
(1)to
(4)and
(6)be complied with in respect of the application. In particular, the following may not be required in respect of the application throughout its pendency: (
- i)the furnishing of any certificate of, or extract from, a register of commerce; (
- ii)an indication of the applicant's carrying on of an industrial or commercial activity, as well as the furnishing of evidence to that effect; (iii) an indication of the applicant's carrying on of an activity corresponding to the goods and/or services listed in the application, as well as the furnishing of evidence to that effect; (
- iv)the furnishing of evidence to the effect that the mark has been registered in the register of marks of another Contracting Party or of a State party to the Paris Convention which is not a Contracting Party, except where the applicant claims the application of Article 6 quinquies of the Paris Convention.
(8)[Evidence] Any Contracting Party may require that evidence be furnished to the Office in the course of the examination of the application where the Office may reasonably doubt the veracity of any indication or element contained in the application. Article 4 Representation; Address for service
(1)[Representatives admitted to practice] Any Contracting Party may require that any person appointed as representative for the purposes of any procedure before the Office be a representative admitted to practice before the Office.
(2)[Mandatory representation; Address for service] (
- a)Any Contracting Party may require that, for the purposes of any procedure before the Office, any person who has neither a domicile nor a real and effective industrial or commercial establishment on its territory be represented by a representative. (
- b)Any Contracting Party may, to the extent that it does not require representation in accordance with subparagraph (a), require that, for the purposes of any procedure before the Office, any person who has neither a domicile nor a real and effective industrial or commercial establishment on its territory have an address for service on that territory.
(3)[Power of attorney] (
- a)Whenever a Contracting Party allows or requires an applicant, a holder or any other interested person to be represented by a representative before the Office, it may require that the representative be appointed in a separate communication (hereinafter referred to as "power of attorney") indicating the name of, and signed by, the applicant, the holder or the other person, as the case may be. (
- b)The power of attorney may relate to one or more applications and/or registrations identified in the power of attorney or, subject to any exception indicated by the appointing person, to all existing and future applications and/or registrations of that person. (
- c)The power of attorney may limit the powers of the representative to certain acts. Any Contracting Party may require that any power of attorney under which the representative has the right to withdraw an application or to surrender a registration contain an express indication to that effect. (
- d)Where a communication is submitted to the Office by a person who refers to himself in the communication as a representative but where the Office is, at the time of the receipt of the communication, not in possession of the required power of attorney, the Contracting Party may require that the power of attorney be submitted to the Office within the time limit fixed by the Contracting Party, subject to the minimum time limit prescribed in the Regulations. Any Contracting Party may provide that, where the power of attorney has not been submitted to the Office within the time limit fixed by the Contracting Party, the communication by the said person shall have no effect. (
- e)As regards the requirements concerning the presentation and contents of the power of attorney, no Contracting Party shall refuse the effects of the power of attorney, (
- i)where the power of attorney is presented in writing on paper, if it is presented, subject to paragraph
(4), on a form corresponding to the power of attorney Form provided for in the Regulations, (ii) where the Contracting Party allows the transmittal of communications to the Office by telefacsimile and the power of attorney is so transmitted, if the paper copy resulting from such transmittal corresponds, subject to paragraph
(4), to the power of attorney Form referred to in item (i).
(4)[Language] Any Contracting Party may require that the power of attorney be in the language, or in one of the languages, admitted by the Office.
(5)[Reference to power of attorney] Any Contracting Party may require that any communication made to the Office by a representative for the purposes of a procedure before the Office contain a reference to the power of attorney on the basis of which the representative acts.
(6)[Prohibition of other requirements] No Contracting Party may demand that requirements other than those referred to in paragraphs
(3)to
(5)be complied with in respect of the matters dealt with in those paragraphs.
(7)[Evidence} Any Contracting Party may require that evidence be furnished to the Office where the Office may reasonably doubt the veracity of any indication contained in any communication referred to in paragraphs
(2)to
(5). Article 5 Filing date
(1)[Permitted requirements] (
- a)Subject to subparagraph (
- b)and paragraph
(2), a Contracting Party shall accord as the filing date of an application the date on which the Office received the following indications and elements in the language required under Article 3
(3): (
- i)an express or implicit indication that the registration of a mark is sought; (
- ii)indications allowing the identity of the applicant to be established; (iii) indications sufficient to contact the applicant or his representative, if any, by mail; (
- iv)a sufficiently clear reproduction of the mark whose registration is sought; (
- v)the list of the goods and/or services for which the registration is sought; (
- vi)where Article 3
(1)(a)(xvii) or (b) applies, the declaration referred to in Article 3
(1)(a)(xvii) or the declaration and evidence referred to in Article 3
(1)(b), respectively, as required by the law of the Contracting Party, those declarations being, if so required by the said law, signed by the applicant himself even if he has a representative. (
- b)Any Contracting Party may accord as the filing date of the application the date on which the Office received only some, rather than all, of the indications and elements referred to in subparagraph (
- a)or received them in a language other than the language required under Article 3
(3).
(2)[Permitted additional requirement] (
- a)A Contracting Party may provide that no filing date shall be accorded until the required fees are paid. (
- b)A Contracting Party may apply the requirement referred to in subparagraph (
- a)only if it applied such requirement at the time of becoming party to this Treaty.
(3)[Corrections and time limits] The modalities of, and time limits for, corrections under paragraphs
(1)and
(2)shall be fixed in the Regulations.
(4)[Prohibition of other requirements] No Contracting Party may demand that requirements other than those referred to in paragraphs
(1)and
(2)be complied with in respect of the filing date. Article 6 Single registration for goods and/or services in several classes Where goods and/or services belonging to several classes of the Nice Classification have been included in one and the same application, such an application shall result in one and the same registration. Article 7 Division of application and registration
(1)[Division of application] (
- a)Any application listing several goods and/or services (hereinafter referred to as "initial application") may: (
- i)at least until the decision by the Office on the registration of the mark, (
- ii)during any opposition proceedings against the decision of the Office to register the mark, (iii) during any appeal proceedings against the decision on the registration of the mark, be divided by the applicant or at his request into two or more applications (hereinafter referred to a "divisional applications") by distributing among the latter the goods and/or services listed in the initial application. The divisional applications shall preserve the filing date of the initial application and the benefit of the right of priority, if any. (
- b)Any Contracting Party shall, subject to subparagraph (a), be free to establish requirements for the division of an application, including the payment of fees.
(2)[Division of registration] Paragraph
(1)shall apply, mutatis mutandis, with respect to a division of a registration. Such a division shall be permitted (
- i)during any proceedings in which the validity of the registration is challenged before the Office by a third party, (
- ii)during any appeal proceedings against a decision taken by the Office during the former proceedings, provided that a Contracting Party may exclude the possibility of the division of registrations if its law allows third parties to oppose the registration of a mark before the mark is registered. Article 8 Signature
(1)[Communication on paper] Where a communication to the Office of a Contracting Party is on paper and a signature is required, that Contracting Party (
- i)shall, subject to item (iii), accept a handwritten signature, (
- ii)shall be free to allow, instead of a handwritten signature, the use of other forms of signature, such as a printed or stamped signature, or the use of a seal, (iii) may, where the natural person who signs the communication is its national and such person's address is in its territory, require that a seal be used instead of a handwritten signature, (
- iv)may, where a seal is used, require that the seal be ac