Post Date: June 15, 2020
Last Friday, June 12th, 2020, an amending law was published in the official Gazette of the Republic of Cyprus, pursuant to which many provisions of the Trademarks Law (Cap. 268), have been updated or replaced, thus bringing the national trademark legislation in line the EU Directive 2015/2436 as well as the EU Regulation 2017/1001. This much needed update to the legislation paves the way for simplification, improved efficiency, and cost-effectiveness of the trademark registration/renewal process.
The key changes brought by the new legislation are the following:
- Introduction of simplified procedures for the filing, registration, maintenance, and transfer of trademarks.
- Introduction of multi-class applications replacing the previous system which obliged the applicant to file a different application for each trademark class.
- Reduction of registration fees for electronic submissions.
- Consolidation of fees and introduction of a single total fee replacing multiple transactions per application.
- Graphical representation of the trademark concerned is no longer a prerequisite for registration. This enables the registration and protection of non-traditional trademarks such as colour trademarks, scent trademarks, shape trademarks and sound trademarks.
- Missing documents may now be filed using an online system.
- Initial period of protection as well as renewal periods have been increased to 10 years (up from 7 and 5 respectively).
- Power of Attorney (PoA) is no longer necessary when instructing a lawyer to register a trademark on your behalf. It has been replaced by a written declaration which can be found on the application form.
- Publications regarding trademark applications will now be made on the Registrar of Companies’ website, under the Intellectual and Industrial Property section. There will be no more publications in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Cyprus.
- An objection to the registration of a trademark can be filed within 3 months (up from 2) from the date of publication of the Registrar’s decision.
- Introduction of a 2-month period in objection-to-registration proceedings to enable and facilitate amicable and mutually agreed settlements.
- If the parties engaged in objection-to-registration proceedings reach an amicable solution prior to the delivery of the judgment, they may request the archiving of the proceedings’ folder without the issuing of any judgment.
- The non-use of a registered trademark by its owner will be considered as a defence in the context of opposition proceedings for the party applying for registration of its own trademark. The owner must prove that the original trademark had been put into genuine use during the 5-year period preceding the filing date of the subsequent trademark application.
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