According to the Romanian Trademark Law no. 84/1998, the Romanian Trademark and Patent Office (“RPTO”) verifies the observance of the procedural conditions of a trademark registration request (the “Request”), i.e. if it comprises all the required documents, information, as well as the proof of payment of the official fees.
If all the procedural conditions are observed, the Request is electronically published within a 7-days term as of the date of filing (the publication can be verified on the RPTO’s website).
Within a 2-months term following the electronic publication, any interested person may challenge the Request, either through an opposition (i.e. for reasons relating to the existence of similar or identical trademarks prior registered or prior filed for registration) or through the filing of observations (i.e. in case the name/symbol does not fulfill the essential trademark legal conditions).
RPTO shall decide with respect to the trademark registration within 6 months from the date of the electronic publication of the Request, after examining the fulfillment of the legal conditions and, if the case, of the grounds of the oppositions or observations filed by third parties.
If the Request fulfills all the required legal conditions, the trademark is published in a 2-months term in the Industrial Property Official Bulletin and in the Trademark Registry (upon payment of the relevant taxes) and the trademark registration certificate is issued.
The RPTO does no longer verify ex-officio if a trademark application infringes prior registered trademarks
The trademark application shall be examined by RPTO only with respect to the fulfillment of the legal requirements regarding the admissibility of a sign to be registered as a trademark, without verifying ex officio if the registration of the new trademark would infringe other trademarks already registered or being under a registration process. The verification of the possible infringement of prior rights shall be performed by RPTO only in case the holder of a prior right files an opposition to the Request.
Why you should consider, as a trademark owner, the advantages of monitoring the new trademarks requests filed by third parties with the RPTO
In case you already have a registered trademark, you should consider the monitoring of the newly filed electronic publications on the RPTO’s website, which confers the following advantages:
- you can identify at an early stage that a third party envisages the registration of a similar or identical trademark for similar or identical products or services with your trademark, fact which could be detrimental to your prior registered rights;
- you can take the available legal steps against the registration of the new trademark infringing your prior rights and thus you may prevent its registration; more specifically, you can file an opposition within the 2-months term as of the electronic publication of the Request;
- you avoid prejudices to your business which may be caused by the use of a similar trademark by a third party;
- you avoid additional costs which may be triggered by following other legal steps against an illegal registration of a trademark which, even if available at a later stage, are generally more time consuming and more expensive.
