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Registration of International Trademarks
The registering of international trademarks is a complex process and requires the assistance of intellectual property lawyers or trademark agents. Smit & Van Wyk, as a well established intellectual property law firm in South Africa, can also handle the registration of international trademarks on behalf of our clients.
Once a trademark application has been done in South Africa, you may also want to register such in various other countries where protection against infringement may be required. This is especially true when planning to export trademarked goods to the specific country.
It should be noted that there is not one single rule or process for registering international trademarks as various intellectual property conventions and treaties are in place, in addition to the regulations of each country.
As such, the first step should be to determine in which countries you want to register the trademark and in which categories. Depending on the membership to various conventions, such as ARIPO, OAPI, PCT, WTO, WIPO, Madrid Agreement and Berne Union, the registration will be done through a central office or on national level.
Some countries allow for the importation of foreign granted patents, pending the meeting of requirements as stipulated by the country.
In addition, translations may be required as some countries only accept documents in a particular language such as Arabic, French, and German. Foreign trademark searches must also be conducted to determine whether conflict exists with prior registered trademarks or applications, whether the mark meets the requirements for trademark registration in the specific country or under the rules of the convention, and more.
Payment of fees must take place, and the usage requirements, as well as renewal and annual maintenance fee requirements should be met.
Let us help you with the registration of international trademarks. Contact our team of intellectual property attorneys at Smit & Van Wyk today.
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