Legal services
Trademark Registration

Trademark Registration

Fast and affordable
registration of trademarks

We provide legal services relating to the registration and administration of trademarks including research, consultation, representation before respective authorities, and settlement of disputes. We provide these services in respect of both Czech and Slovak national trademarks, as well as in relation to EU trademarks and international trademarks.

Price

Fees for our services are set on a contractual basis, and always reflect a client’s individual needs and the complexity of their case. Our fees for a standard registration of a trademark in the Czech Republic or in the EU are as follows:

Registration of a trademark in the Czech Republic

EUR 200 (excluding VAT) + the fee of the Industrial Property Office of the Czech Republic (the IPO’s fee list can be found here).

Registration of a trademark in the EU

EUR 320 (excluding VAT) + the fee of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (the EUIPO’s fee list can be found here).

If you use our services to register your trademark, we will automatically notify you prior to the expiry of your registration.

Why use our services

Speed

We are available to discuss your plans with you immediately via our online legal advice system, eAdvokacie. We will draft a trademark application within a few working days.

Reliability

We have been securing trademark registrations since 2003, and we have helped our clients acquire dozens of trademarks successfully. Our law firm has a long tradition. With us, you can count on confidentiality and professional services.

Competitive prices

We set the prices of our services in a way which ensures that trademark registration is affordable for all types of businesses including nonprofit organisations.

Process of trademark registration

You can start the trademark registration process via eAdvokacie, our online legal advice system, by phone on +420 233 375 542, by email at info@mkanosko.cz or in person at our offices in Prague or Bratislava.

Step 1: Choosing a mark to register and carrying out research

We will discuss your aims and needs with you. We will carry out basic research and verify that you will be able to register the chosen mark.

Step 2: Drafting and submitting an application

After we have agreed the extent of the trademark, we will draft an application for registration on the basis of your authorisation. We will then submit this to the respective registration body (IPO, EUIPO, USPTO, WIPO).

Step 3: Registration of the trademark

Once the application has been submitted, we will remain in contact with the respective body. We will provide you with regular updates on the progress of the application as requested. Once the application has been approved, you will become the owner of the trademark.

We will be available to you both in person and online throughout the trademark registration process. We will always outline all the steps to be taken in relation to the registration in advance.

Frequently asked questions

What is a trademark?

A trademark is a mark which is used to distinguish products or services, and which prevents a specific product/service being mistaken for a competing product/service. According to the Trademark Act, a trademark is any mark, particularly words including names, colours, drawings, letters, numbers, the shape of a product or its wrapping, or sounds, providing such a mark is capable of distinguishing products or services of one person from products or services of another person, and which is capable of being expressed in the Trademark Register in a way which allows the respective bodies and the public to ascertain clearly and accurately the object of protection provided to the trademark owner.

What can a trademark be registered for?

A trademark can protect any service or product.

What types of trademarks are there?

In practice, word and graphic trademarks are most commonly registered.

Word trademark

A word trademark is composed of words or letters in the Latin script, Arabic or Roman numerals, common typographic characters, or their combination. A word trademark must be composed of at least one or more words, which must have a distinctive character.

This trademark can protect the name of a specific product or service, but also a slogan.

Such as Apple, iPhone, or the slogan of the company Nike - Just do it.

Graphic (combined) trademark

A graphic trademark is composed of unusual characters, styles or layout, graphic elements or colours, pictorial elements, or a combination of word and pictorial elements. Such a trademark can protect, mainly, a company logo or product and services.

Such as the part-eaten apple representing the company Apple.

A word and a graphic (combined) trademark cannot, however, be registered at the same time (i.e. on the same application or for a single administrative fee).

What is a distinctive character?

This means, primarily, the ability to individualise goods, services, and their providers. Marks describing a type, descriptive marks, and marks which are commonly used in usual language, i.e. marks which are not capable of distinguishing individual products and services belonging to a business from one another, cannot be registered in the Register. Marks which are contrary to good morals or public order, which may deceive the public, which are registered for wines or spirits, which contain a geographical designation without having such a geographical origin, and which contain coats of arms, signs, emblems, religious symbols etc. can never be registered in the Register. Nor is it possible to register a mark which is identical to a trademark already registered, or which is similar to such a trademark, and which could thus be mistaken for such a mark.

How should an item protected by a trademark be marked? Is it necessary to mark it so that it is protected?

Together with a trademark, a trademark owner may use a symbol – R in a circle ®. The use of this symbol is not, however, compulsory, and services and goods will also be protected without it.

What am I entitled to if I am an owner of a trademark?

An exclusive right to use the trademark in connection with the product or the service which the trademark is registered for.

If a trademark has been infringed, its owner has several options. Aside from so-called dilatory claims, the owner is entitled to compensation for loss, return of unjust enrichment which the infringer acquired on account of threatening or violating the right, and appropriate satisfaction if the infringement of the right resulted in non-proprietary loss. The amount of compensation for loss can be set as a lump sum of no less than twice the amount of the standard licence fee payable for acquiring a licence to use the right at the time when the infringement took place. This means that it is not necessary to prove the amount of loss incurred.

How much are administrative fees?

Current fees payable to the Czech Industrial Property Office are listed here. For illustration, the IPO’s fee for a registration of an individual trademark for three classes of products or services is CZK 5,000. Each further class of products or services costs CZK 500. A trademark is valid for 10 years, and a renewal of an individual trademark costs CZK 2,500.

What conditions must be satisfied in order for a trademark to be granted?

It is always advisable to research whether a similar trademark may already exist. Then, the mark is classified according to the Nice Classification of products and services. The final step is completing an application and submitting this to the Industrial Property Office. If there are no objections to the application within a period of three months of publication of the trademark, the trademark becomes valid and the symbol of a registered trademark ® can be used.

How long does a registration of a trademark take?

If the mark being registered has sufficient distinctive character, and the trademark application has already been published, the three-month period for raising objections starts to run immediately. As soon as this period has expired without any objections being raised, the trademark becomes valid.

What is a collective trademark?

A collective trademark is a trademark which is capable of distinguishing products or services of members of a legal person from products or services belonging to other persons. An application for registration of a collective trademark can be made by a legal person, particularly an association of manufacturers, producers, providers of services or traders which, according to the relevant law, has a legal personality and capacity, as well as public law legal persons. A collective trademark marks the commercial origin of certain products and services, and informs consumers that the manufacturer of products or provider of services belongs to a particular association which has a right to use the trademark. Such trademarks are often used to mark products or services of manufacturers with similar interests.

How long is a trademark valid for?

A trademark is valid for 10 years, and it is possible to extend it repeatedly. If the owner does not apply for an extension, the trademark will expire.

What is the difference between a trademark in the Czech Republic and in the European Union?

A national trademark provides protection only in the member state in which it was registered, whereas an EU trademark grants to its owner an exclusive right in all current and future member states of the EU.

Will I automatically gain protection in each EU member state if I register an EU trademark?

Yes, the system of EU trademarks involves single registration proceedings, the result of which is the grant to the owner of an exclusive right in all 27 member states of the European Union.

How should I proceed if I want to protect my mark not only in Europe, but also in the USA or in Asia?

We can also put you in touch with specialists in countries outside the EU. In the United States of America, MKA Nosko cooperates closely in intellectual property matters with the Colorado law firm Sheridan Ross P.C. Additionally, trademarks registered in the Czech Republic or in the EU can be registered via the Industrial Property Office as so-called international trademarks in other states (refer to a list of contractual states and organisations) on the basis of the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks.

Do I automatically have a right to an internet domain if I am the owner of a trademark containing a particular expression?

No.

Which legislation regulates trademarks on national and international levels?

At a national level, this is primarily Act no. 441/2003 Coll., on Trademarks, on Amending Act no. 6/2002 Coll., on Courts, Judges, Lay Judges and State Administration of Courts, and on Amending Certain Other Acts (‘Act on Courts and Judges’), as amended (‘Trademark Act’). Further it is Regulation (EU) 2015/2424 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2015 Amending Council Regulation (EC) No 207/2009 on the Community Trademark and Commission Regulation (EC) No 2868/95 implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 40/94 on the Community Trademark, and repealing Commission Regulation (EC) No 2869/95 on the Fees Payable to the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (Trademarks and Designs).

At an international level, it is the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks and its Protocol from 1989.

What is the difference between a trademark and a patent?

A trademark is used to distinguish goods or services, and its main purpose is protecting a consumer from products or services being mistaken for a competitor’s products or services.

A patent protects technical inventions, and it secures protection of ownership rights to inventions.

How should I proceed if my trademark has been misused?

In such circumstances, it is best to contact a lawyer or a patent attorney.

How does a transfer or a sale of a trademark work?

A transfer of a trademark takes place on the basis of a contract between the transferor and the transferee. The change in ownership is then recorded in the Trademark Register.

How does licensing (granting consent to the use of a trademark) work?

A trademark licence is granted on the basis of a contract between the trademark owner and the acquirer of the licence. The grant of the licence should subsequently be recorded in the Trademark Register.