Trademark Registration

INTRODUCTION

“Trademark/Brand/Logo” means any mark capable of being represented graphically and capable of distinguishing goods or services of one undertaking from those of other undertakings.

Specialized types of trademark include Collective Marks and Certification Marks. The law considers a trademark to be a form of intellectual property.

The IP rights in relation to a trademark may be established through actual use in the local market place or through registration of the mark with Trade Marks Registry of Intellectual Property Organization of Pakistan (IPO-Pakistan) which will provide a prima facie evidence in favor of the owner of the trademark.

A trademark registration is valid for ten years counting from the date of filing in the territory of Pakistan. The registration can be renewed for an unlimited number of successive ten year periods. In principle, a trademark can be protected for ever.

We provide all the services necessary to obtain and protect your trademarks.

Prosecution
Renewals
Infringement
Preparing and responding to cease and desist demands
Opposition / Counter
Complex Examinations
Assignments and Licenses
Merger and acquisition
Change of name and address
Trademark Search (Online) Officially with IPO Pakistan
Approx. Time Frame – 12 to 18 Months

Average process time for Services of Trade Mark Registry

SN	Nature of office action	Average time (working days)
1	Issuance of Acknowledgement Receipt on filing application. This includes following steps:	Fifteen days
2	Issuance of 1st Examination Report on application.	Four months
3	Action on reply received from the applicant	Three months
4	Acceptance and subsequent publication on compliance of all legal requirements.	Two months
5	Process time to decide an Opposition proceedings	It depends on case to case basis
6	Registration of Trade mark – where no opposition received.	Six months
7	Issuance of Registration Certificate of trademark after publication from reception of Fee for Demand Notice	Three months
8	Trademark Search Report from request on form TM-55	Fifteen days
9	Miscellaneous requests where hearing is NOT required e.g.; Request for issuance of certified copy Request for change of name, address, etc. Request for duplicate certificate Request for assignment / licence etc.	one months
10	Process time to decide invalidation / cancellation Proceedings	It depends on case to case basis

REQUIREMENT FOR TRADEMARK

Sample of the mark/logo (logo can be upload in JPG)
Applicant/Owner Name and Nationality
Address
List of Goods/Services
Class
Period of use in Pakistan if any or it is proposed to be used
Color to be claimed if any
Form of Authorization (TM-48) (sample to be attached)
Signing person name, nationality and passport #
Priority country, date and number (for priority filing)

Process of Registration in Pakistan

Official Receipt and trademark number is allotted to the applicant at the time of filing application;
Acknowledgement Receipt is issued to the applicant within 10-15 days of filing an application;
Examination Report is generated after 3/6 months of filing an application. If there are any objections on the applied trademark, they are communicated to the applicant or their legal representative in the form of a Show Cause Notice. The applicant is required to submit a reply within two months from the date of issuance of a Show Cause Notice; extension of time is possible for any valid reason.
If there are no any further objections, or hearing the application will be accepted for publication in the Trade Marks Journal. If no oppositions are filed to the published application within two months from date of publication, the application stands finally accepted and Demand Notice is issued to the applicant requesting him/her to submit registration fee amounting to Rs. 9,000/- in form of a pay order/ bank draft in the name of Director General IPO-Pakistan for issuance of the Registration Certificate; and on the receipt of registration fee, the Registration Certificate is issued by the Registrar of Trademarks.