Trademark application

From application till the Trademark gets registered.

・A product or a service identification mark, known as the Trademark, is protected by the Trademark Act; ownership rights of the trademark exists after its registration with the JPO and the trademark owner has the rights to its exclusive use, for the specified product or service, for 10 years after its registration. Further, the owner has the right to request for an injunction or compensation against any unauthorized use of the same or similar trademark.

・The applicant would have to specify the trademark and the specific goods or services to be registered for when submitting an application. Names, logos and characters can be used as trademarks but general collective names of products can however not be registered. The types of goods and services have been classified into 450 classes and each class is chargeable.
　When an application is submitted, it would be examined by the JPO and if there are no problems, a “Decision of Registration” would be issued. A registration fee of 10years would have to be paid and the proposed trademark would be registered. If it has been assessed that a similar trademark has already been registered, the application would not be approved and a “Decision of Refusal” would be issued. The applicant can submit a written argument or an amendment to limit his or her application to exclude goods or services that have already been registered.

・Prior investigation can be done to gauge whether a trademark can be registered or not. Although it is very difficult to assess whether a trademark is identifiable or similar to other trademarks, we have a team of experienced researchers who have the appropriate experience and know how to carry out the necessary searches based on past registered records and precedent court decisions.

・The search for a trademark usually takes about 3days to a week. The application procedure for a trademark registration would take about 1 week to 10days from the day of request upon confirmation of searches for the trademark and related goods and services. Based on the current assessment conditions, it takes about 6mths to a year for an application to be registered. The effective period of a trademark is 10 years after which it can be renewed in 10year intervals.

・We charge our fees based on each procedure requested. Related fees for the following procedures are: submission of application, submission of written argument or amendment, and registration after the application has been approved. After the application has been approved, a commission would be charged.

・Above is the brief summary of what is required when submitting a patent application. For further details, please refer to the JPO official website.