The new Trademarks Law, which amends the already existing Trademarks Law, was published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Cyprus on the 12th of June 2020 and the new Trademarks Regulations, supporting the new Trademarks Law, were published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Cyprus on the 16th of June 2020.
The new Trademarks Law and Regulations bring major changes to the already existing procedure for the registration and protection of the Trademarks, simplify the already existing procedures and introduce new procedures.
The new Trademarks Law and Regulations, include, amongst others, the following:
- Establishment of multi class system;
- Introduction of new types of trademarks, such as motif, movement, holographic, sound, position and trademarks consisting of colours;
- A single official fee for the trademark registration paid at the beginning of the registration procedure;
- Reduced official fees for online trademark registration applications;
- Abolition of the requirement of filing of Power of Attorney in trademark procedures;
- Introduction of the possibility of dividing a registered trademark;
- Additional absolute & relative grounds of refusal;
- Simplification of assignment procedure;
- Extension of the opposition period from 2 months to 3 months;
- Introduction of cooling off period of two months during opposition proceedings;
- The right of the trademark applicant, in opposition proceedings, to request from the Opponent to provide proof of actual use of the earlier trademark;
- Non-use as a defence in opposition proceedings;
- Extension of the duration of the trademark from 7 years to 10 years;
- Renewal of trademarks every 10 years;
- Clarification of the start date of the period of use of a national and international trademark registration;
- Replacement of submission of affidavit (under oath) with the submission of a declaration;
- Provision that a trademark owner can prohibit not only the import and export of infringing goods, but also their transit;
- The trademark may be given as a security or be pledged or be the subject-matter of a security in rem or be subject to mandatory enforcement, irrespective of the business, or be included in an insolvency procedure.
For any further information on the above, please contact the Head of our IP Department, Mrs. Eleni Papacharalambous at elenip@kkplaw.com.