News: Registration of trademark in Bolivia

Registration of trademarks in Bolivia

Bolivia prohibits registration of combined trademarks, which simultaneously include elements of words and images. According to the rules of procedure, it is possible to register trademark only in one configuration: either as an image, or as a word. If the applicant tends to register trademark in Bolivia as word with picture, then these two elements should be registered separately.

Patenting of trademarks in Bolivia

Law company "Law&Trust" provides assistance in registration of trademark and carries out patenting of trademarks in Bolivia. The company's lawyers specialize in this issue and have extensive experience of work in the field of prompt registration of trademark.

Application for patenting trademark shall be submitted to the Bolivian branch of the National Intellectual Property Service of SENAPI. For filling out the application internal registration of own company is not required from the client. The procedure assumes the following stages, namely:

1. Identification of the applicant (full name, name and address of the company).

2. Providing logo of TM in GIF or JPG formats, subject to protection of intellectual property. If the image is in color, it is necessary to indicate the exact colors.

3. Verification of conformity of the trademark with the list of requirements for brands admitting them to be registered.

4. Examination of the trademark (search for existing analogues registered in Bolivia).

5. Determination of the class of services and products in relation to which the trademark will be used. The authorities of Bolivia require detailed list of goods or services included in one class. Attaching of products to several classes is prohibited.

6. Submission of the application.

7. Publication of the trademark in the official bulletin (Bolvian).

It is required to provide the package of documents in Spanish. The procedure of processing the application takes up to 12 months.

Bolivia is not a party to the Hague Convention, so it does not require apostille on the documents provided, but notarization may be required.

According to the regulations of the country, if the registered brand is not used within 3 years, the management bodies are considering the question of canceling the operation of its registration.

The registration certificate is valid for 10 years. Upon the expiry of the validity period of the certificate, the person is granted a grace period for renewal the validity of the document for another 10 years. If no application for renewal is submitted in the semi-annual period, the decision is automatically canceled.

The experts of "Law & Trust" will help in preparation, compilation and submission of documents. Lawyers will conduct the necessary procedures for obtaining approval for registering a brand name in Bolivia.