TRADEMARK REGISTRATION IN LITHUANIA FROM 1 JANUARY 2019

Edita Ivanauskienė, Attorney at Law, Patent Attorney

The Lithuania Parliament adopted new changes to the Lithuania Trademark Law which took effect on 1 January 2019. How does the trademark registration procedure in Lithuania look like?

 

If of interest, please read a short summary of the trademark registration procedure below:

 

Filing Procedure

 

The main filing requirements for Lithuania trademark applications from 1 January 2019 are as follows:

(i)                 A trademark application (one trademark application per each trademark) in a special form must be filed to the State Patent Bureau (the SPB) directly, via the post or through e-filing system. Multi-class application is possible. Use of the trademark before filing is not required.

(ii)               A trademark application may be filed by the applicant himself or by his representative. The applicants from non-European Economic Area (EEA) countries (e.g. the US, Mexico, Russia) having no permanent residence or having no representatives or branches registered in the EEA, may file trademark applications only through professional representatives – patent attorneys. 

(iii)             If the applicant claims priority based on the earlier applications, date on the priority should be included in the application, the supporting documents should be submitted not later than 3 months from the date of filing.

 

Examination Procedure

 

Upon receipt of the application and the filing fee the SPB examines whether the application meets the formalities (i.e., if it contains all required information). If the deficiency in the application is found, the SPB will provide two months to remedy the deficiency. If the deficiency is not remedied, the application is treated as not filed.

 

If the application meets the requirements set for trademark applications, the SPB examines whether the trademark complies with the absolute requirements and other requirements applied for the trademarks. The SPB does not make a search and does not check whether there are earlier rights which might be infringed by registration of the trademark. The applicant has the right to request to make a re-examination of the trademark if the expert issues the decision that the trademark is not in compliance with the absolute requirements and other requirements applied for the trademarks. Expert re-examination decisions may be appealed by the applicant to the SPB Appeal Division.

 

Publication of the Application

 

The trademark application is published in the official SPB Bulletin after the decision is taken that the trademark is in compliance with the absolute requirements and other requirements applied for the trademarks. After the trademark application is published temporal protection of the trademark application starts, i.e. from that moment, in case of trademark infringement, the applicant is entitled to file a damage claim with the court if actions conducted by the infringer may be forbidden by the trademark registration.

 

Registration

 

If the trademark application is not opposed within the time limit or the opposition, if filed, is rejected, the SPB issues the trademark registration certificate to the applicant.

 

Opposition

 

Opposition against a trademark application may be filed by any interested person based on absolute and/or relative grounds with the SPB Appeal Division within 3 months from the date of publication of the trademark application in the SPB Official Gazette. A fee must be paid for filing an opposition. Opposition may be rejected or satisfied recognizing the trademark invalid (fully or partially). The costs incurred in the opposition proceedings may not be recovered.

 

The decision of the Appeal Division may be appealed to the Vilnius County Court within three months from the date of the decision. The decision of the Vilnius County Court may be appealed to the Lithuania Appeal Court, the decision of the Lithuania Appeal Court may be appealed to the Lithuania Supreme Court.

 

Validity of Registration

 

The trademark registration is valid for 10 years from the date of the application. The registration can be renewed for 10 years from the expiry of the previous 10-year period. The renewal is accepted when the renewal fee paid and request in a special form is filed with the SPB.

 

Trademark Registration Fees

 

Filing fee for one class is 180 EUR, fee for each subsequent class is 40 EUR. The renewal fee for one class is 180 EUR, fee for each subsequent class is 40 EUR.

 

Please feel free to contact by edita.ivanauskiene@eiip.lt, if you require any further information.