Trademark extension
Trademark legal force is limited by period of 10 years from the date of filing an application to Rospatent. This means that after this period expires, the patent holder is losing rights to use the trademark. In this case, any person can use the trademark by registering it. Trade mark registration by other parties can be challenged in court or in Patent Dispute Chamber, however appealing to Rospatent for trademark extension would be more efficient and less costly. The trademark extension allows the right holder to avoid a re-registration procedure which saves significantly time and money.
Trademark extension requires to pay state duty and file an application to Rospatent for trademark extension attaching relevant documents (State Registration Certificate and written proof of state duty payment). Time for documents consideration by Rospatent is three months. After that, the applicant will receive an attachment to the certificate of trademark confirming the trademark extension for the next 10 years.
Upon the expiration of trademark, the most important is a period of time elapsed since lapse of trademark. When this period of time does not exceed six months, then a right holder should attach a petition to the application for extension explaining the reasons for delay. If more than six months have elapsed since lapse of trademark then the rights holder loses all the rights for the trademark and a new registration of the trademark should be made and a new certificate should be received. In this case, it is very important to start registration immediately, since other parties that look out over the chance of obtaining rights for such a trademark, may now get them.
The procedure of trademark extension takes place in three stages:
- First a documentation package is formed and submitted to Rospatent.
- Documents are considered within two months. If documents are incomplete or not correct they are are returned to the applicant to eliminate all inaccuracies within three months.
- Upon completion of the application considering process, the information is entered in the Rosreestr. The right holder receives an annex to the certificate with a trademark extension.