Susan MeierThe security of your brand, product, or company is an area that is frequently missed. It’s crucial to remember that your business may one day become your most valuable asset, and having a registered trademark is the greatest way to safeguard it. Trademarking can protect several parts of your brand. In a nutshell, trademarks are important for the following reasons.
Trademark registration gives you more freedom to operate and establishes legal ownership of your brand. Also, it allows you to save money in the long run in the event of business conflicts and adds to the value of your brand. Registering a trademark always indicates seriousness and the ® symbol is very valuable for marketing purposes.
A “trademark may, in particular, consist of words (including personal names), figurative element, letters, numerals or the shape of their packaging”, according to The Malta Trademarks Act 2000. It will be easier to identify a company, service, or a product by a combination of these elements. Malta is an EU member, so Maltese businesses can choose to have their trademarks protected on an EU level, known as European Union Trade Marks (EUTM).
A trademark application is typically reviewed for vetting purposes within 8 months of the application date. Given the duration of the procedure, it is critical to plan ahead of time, and it is recommended that you get professional assistance during the application process to ensure that all needed information and paperwork is completed properly. The proprietor will have exclusive property rights to the trademark after the application is authorized.
In some businesses, brand loyalty is extremely important, and some producers and manufacturers rely on it. It is also critical to prevent others from stealing your brand names and trademarks, as this would result in the owner losing clients and risking damage to his own brand.
Such legal protection is simple to get, especially in Malta. You can register a trademark in almost any country where your products or services will be sold or advertised. Fortunately, under EU law, one can seek for full protection of their marks throughout the EU, including Malta, with a single application. While the registration process may seem easy, legal expertise is required to correctly register your trademark in the relevant category.
In terms of the technical aspects of Malta’s trademark protection procedures, it is important to know that each different class of product or service must have its own trademark application; multi-class applications are not allowed.
Also, Maltese trademark law protects well-known brands in Malta that are qualified for protection under the Paris Convention. There are a variety of absolute and relative grounds for a Trademark rejection to be registered, and a registration may also be issued with geographical or specialized restrictions on the mark’s use.
It’s also interesting to know that a trademark application may claim priority over a previously registered trademark if the trademark was duly applied for by any member of the World Trade Organization or a party to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, and the Malta application is filed within six months of the first application’s filing date. A Malta Trademark could be registered for ten years from the date of filing, and it can be renewed for another ten years.
Learn more about Trademark registration in this expert article by Dr. Michael Calleja.
Disclaimer: The above-mentioned article is simply based on independent research carried out by Dr. Werner and Partner and cannot constitute any form of legal advice. If you would like to meet up with any of our representatives to seek further information, please contact us for an appointment.
