|
Filing
Requirements
Patent
for Inventions/Utility Solution
| Industrial Design |
Trademarks
| Renewal and Annuity
Recordal of Change of Name/Address
| Recordal of License Contract
Recordal of Assignment
| Copyright
Trademarks
in Laos
Registration
Procedures
Applications
can be filed for registration of trademarks, service marks, collective
marks and figurative marks. Like other countries, Laos adopts the
International Classification of Goods and Services under the Nice
Agreement. Multi-class applications are not accepted in Laos.
Foreign
individuals or entities can file trademark applications in Laos
if they have legal presence in Laos, for example representative
offices. Otherwise, applications must be filed through Lao trademark
agents.
In
compliance with the "first-to-file" principle, Laos grants
certificate of trademark registration to the person/entity who first
files the application in the country. Formality and substantive
examination shall be conducted for all trademark applications, within
6 months from the filing date. Upon expiry of such period, if the
trademark is found to be of inherent distinctiveness and distinguishable
from earlier filed trademarks, the Lao Trademark Department shall
grant Certificate of Registration to the mark.
Documents
Required for Filing
To
file a trademark application in Laos, the following information
and documents are required:
(i)
Full name, address and nationality of the applicant;
(ii) Trademark specimens (20 specimens) with the size not larger
than 100mm x 100 mm and not smaller than 50 x 50 mm. Colours can be claimed
for the marks provided that the trademark specimens are in colour.
In case that the trademark includes characters not of English, translation
or transliteration of the characters is required;
(iii) A list of goods/services and the International Classification
of respective goods/services (if known);
(iv) Priority data for claiming priority right under the Paris Convention
(if any), including application number, priority date, country.
Certified copy of the priority application and the English translation
can be submitted later, after filing;
(v) A notarized Power of Attorney from the Applicant. The Power
of Attorney should identify particular mark(s). One notarized Power
of Attorney can be used for filing a single trademark or for several
trademarks provided that all the identified marks are filed simultaneously
(at the same time).
Protection and Renewal
The
term of protection of trademark in Laos is 10 years from the filing
date. Trademark registration is renewable for unlimited times, each
of 10 years.
The
trademark owner shall be obliged to use the trademark in Laos. Trademark
registration may be cancelled on non-use basis if the mark under
the registration has not been used for five consecutive years. For cases of recordal of any
change in respect of the registered mark, such as ownership change,
change of the name and address of the trademark owner, amendment
of list of goods, or of mark, etc., Affidavit of Use shall be required
for submission. Non-use with justifiable reasons may be acceptable
for the recordal the trademark owner change and amendments.
Any
changes in respect of the ownership of the registered mark or registered
mark is required to be recorded in Laos to have the change effected.
|
|
REQUIRED
INFORMATION
|
-
Full name, address and nationality of the applicant;
-
Description of the trademark: meaning, colors claimed,
translation or transliteration of characters into
English if the mark contains foreign characters;
-
List of goods/services to be covered by the trademark
and if possible, the class(es) of the respective goods/services
according to the International Classification;
-
Country, application number and filing date of the
original foreign application from which priority is
claimed (if priority is claimed).
|
|
REQUIRED
DOCUMENTS
|
-
A notarized Power of Attorney from the applicant (the
particular mark(s) should be identified in the Power
of Attorney) (as the attached form);
-
20 trademark specimens (the size of each specimen
is not smaller than 50mm x 50mm and not larger than
80mm x 80mm);
- Documents
for claiming priority and English translation thereof
(if any).
|
|
GENERAL
INFORMATION:
|
-
A trademark application can cover only one class;
-
It usually takes 5-6 months from the filing
date to obtain a Trademark Registration Certificate
in Laos;
-
The term of the trademark protection in Laos is 10
years from the filing date. Trademark registration
is renewable for unlimited times, each of 10 years;
- The
trademark owner will be obliged to use the trademark
in Laos. Trademark registration may be cancelled on
the non-use basis if the registered mark has not been
used for 5 consecutive years.
|
|
Back
to top
|
) (
)