Trademares CR  

TRADEMARKS

- FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ) -

What is a trademark?

What kind of sign can be considered a trademark?

What kind of legal protection is recognized to a trademark holder?

What is the scope of protection of a trademark?

 

 

What is a trademark?

The TRADEMARK is a distinctive sign which a manufacturer or merchant adopts to identify its goods or services within the market. The trademark - together with other distinctive signs as commercial names, advertisement signs, appellation of origin and geographical indications - allow the consumers to identify the ORIGIN and QUALITY of the product or service that it is purchasing in comparison with the rest of the products and services in the market.   

Aside from the trademarks that identify the origin of goods and services there are other trademark categories: the collective mark, whose holder is a collective entity that authorizes its members to use the trademark, and the certification mark that is applied to products or services whose characteristics or quality have been controlled or certified by the mark´s holder.

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What kind of sign can be considered a trademark?

The possibilities are undefined. Actually, any sign or combinations of signs that have enough capacity to distinguish a product or service are viable in becoming a trademark.  

Without prejudice of the aforementioned, the majority of legal systems establish a series of limitations with the purpose of protecting free competition or prior rights acquired by third parties in good faith.   
In Costa Rica it is allowed to register any sign or combination of signs that are capable of distinguishing the goods or services(art. 3 Trademark Law), provided that it does not affect prior third party rights, free competition nor the morals (arts. 7 & 8 Trademark Law).

Aside from the denominated traditional trademarks (denominative, figurative and mixed trademarks), the non-traditional trademarks are also protected (three-dimension, audible and color) There is no express mention to the protection of the trademarks consisting of odors and fragrances. 

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What kind of legal protection is recognized to a trademark holder?

Basically, the registration of a trademark grants a LEGAL MONOPOLY to its holder, before the market`s free competition regulations.   

This means that it is recognized to the holder the exclusive right to use the trademark in the market to identify the goods or services that have been designated in the trademark title.

At the same time, it is recognized to the holder the right to prevent that third disloyal competitors use identical or similar signs to identify goods or services that are the same or similar than the ones registered.

For this, the legal system establishes the necessary mechanisms to guarantee the holder the right to be the only one in the market that can develop and offer a product or service under the registered denomination. Furthermore, it also allows the holder to stop any progress of trespassers and/or competitors that pretend to take advantage of the invested effort and/or prestige that its trademark has acquired in the market.

In Costa Rica, the protection is granted for a term of ten years, indefinitely extendable for ten year terms.

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What is the scope of protection of a trademark?

The scope of protection of a trademark is territorial. This means that the trademark holder has an exclusive right to use the trademark and prevent third disloyal competitors to interfere in its right only in the Registry`s territory where the registration has been carried out. 

The majority of the countries in the world have a national office of trademark registry. Also there are regional offices as the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market, in whose case the legal protection of the registration is extended to all the countries in the region.

In Central America there have been several attempts to develop a Central American trademark, being the Central American Convention the nearest exponent to this possibility. Up to this date, there is no Central American trademark so it is necessary to individually proceed before each national office.

Last, there is an international system –Madrid System- that offers the possibility to protect the trademark in several countries through obtaining an international trademark. Costa Rica is not yet a member of the Madrid Union so this is not a viable option in Costa Rica.

TRADEMARES has a reliable correspondent network that is able to cover the same service and quality guaranties, registration, maintenance and defense of the industrial designs in other regions, especially in Central America, Latin-America, Mexico, United States of America, Canada, Europe and China.  

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The Trademark in Costa Rica

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Trademarks registration in other
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Tel: +506 2289-8895, fax: +506 2289-2489 / info@trademares.net, Costa Rica.