FAQs on Trademark
FAQs on Trademarks
1- What is a trademark?
Trademark means any sign (including word, image, number, letter, phrase, etc.) that can distinguish between goods and services of real or legal persons.
- Can an audible sign (as a music, melody, vocal sound or the like, which is used more often in TV commercials) be registered as a trademark in Iran?
Answer: Audible signs cannot be protected in Iran. Because according to the law of trademark of Iran a "visible sign" can be registered and visible signs do not include sound marks.
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- Can a fragrance (for example, when a company uses a specific smell on its own tissues and the customer recognizes the product from the product smell) be protected as trademark?
Answer: By law of Iran it cannot be registered.
2. Is trademark registration necessary?
Trademark registration is not necessary in Iran; however, it may be required to be registered under certain specific laws. For example, the "Code of Conduct for the Installation and Registration of Industrial Signs on Certain Pharmaceutical, Oral and Cosmetic Products" requires the registration of trademark in some particular goods.
3. What are benefits of trademark registration?
Trademark registration, in simple words, is to create a savings box that will save your credit or the value momentarily to your business and add to your business activity. In other words, the non-registration of a trademark (and then advertising and marketing), is wasting the value added to the business. Imagine what would happen if Sony did not register its trademark from the beginning. The answer would be that everyone used trademark for free, so the customer could not properly identify the goods of each company and Sony could no longer be proud of its credibility.
Another example is the importance of Coca-Cola's trademark registration. Due to the registration and acquisition of exclusive proprietary trademark (credit = brand), now, in addition to direct sales of products and profits, its trademark worth more than 50 billion dollar and receives very high royalties in exchange for licensing.
Therefore, registration of your trademark assures that if you gain reputation in the market, that credit will remain in your monopoly and others will not be able to use that credit without paying the price and your permission.
4. What is difference between a tradename and a trademark?
Simply put, tradename means the name of your registered company in the registration office of each city in which you registered your company. But the trademark is a name, letter, shape, number, or any sign that you are introducing to the customer to be identified better and more accurately.
For example, in the field of tissue production, the title of "Khorasan Paper Industries Corporation (Private Joint Stock Company)" is the tradename of the company, but the word "GOLRIZ" is a trademark and it is known by that.
In legal terms, the tradename is supported on the same geographical territory of the city that the company is registered and other competitors in another city can register the same name for their company; however, the trademark is protected throughout the territory of whole country.
The difference in terms of the categories of goods and services is also another aspect of their differentiation.
5. What is difference between trademark and geographical indication?
A geographical indication refers to the origin of the goods to a particular geographical area, which indicates that the specific quality of the product is due to the particular characteristics which exist in that geographical area. For example, if we say that "Kashan" carpet (a ciy in Iran) is a carpet that is produced by traditional and common art among the people of Kashan. Or when we say that Damavand mineral water means the water that originates from the Damavand Mountains and is the cause of that special quality. Or if we say Parmesan cheese (in Italy) means cheese made by special mountains and the presence of special grasslands in that area.
A geographical indication does not create exclusive rights for a particular person, and anyone in the geographical area can use it in the production of his/her product.
Unlike a geographic indication, the trademark will be monopolized by registrant and will not be related to the geographic area.
According to the laws in Iran, registration of a geographical indication as a trademark is prohibited.
6. What geographical territory does a trademark cover?
According to Iran trademark regulations, trademark is protected only in the geographical area of the same country that is registered, and if you want to be protected in more countries, you should register your trademark separately in each of these countries.
If a trademark finds a world-wide fame, it will be supported without registration in other countries.
7. Where can I register a trademark in Iran?
The organization in charge of trademark registration is Iran Trademark Office, which is a subset of the "Industrial Property General Directorate" (the departments affiliated with the State Registration and Property Registration Organization).
Iran Trademark Office address is:
Fayazbakhsh Street, Khayyam Street, Imam Khomeini Square, Tehran, Iran
8. What are the required documents for trademark registration?
Requirements for registering a trademark
9. How long does it take to register a trademark in Iran?
It normally takes 4-6 months.
10. How much does it cost to register a trademark in Iran?
Registering a trademark from 45 classes of the table International Classification of Industrial and Commercial Signs (Nice classification) is related to categorizing goods and services and according to the number of classes chosen by the applicant, more cost should be paid.
11- Do I need an attorney to register my trademark?
It is not necessary to have an attorney to register a trademark. But we recommend you to use a professional trademark attorney. Experience has shown that in many cases that legal actions have been carried out by a person himself without consulting with professionals, things did not work out because of doing a wrong task and redefinition of legal actions will be impossible or very difficult and time-consuming.
Experienced and knowledgeable attorneys, due to their scientific and empirical skills, are able to help you at the registration of trademark and be effective in your time and rate of success.
In case you want to use the services of NOBAN Law Office, click here.
12. How long does trademark protection last?
According to the trademark law of Iran, a registered trademark is protected for 10 years, after which it can be renewed for another 10 years.
13. What conditions should be considered in case of selecting a logo or trademark?
You may choose a sign and after spending a huge amount of money and time you realize that it cannot be registered due to legal regulation or find out later that, it's not easy to read, write, pronounce, memorize, and understand based on geographic locations of different regions or in different languages. In another case, despite the success of the registration of the trademark and starting your activity, you will notice later that your registered sign conflicts with another registered trademark and the owner of that mark will void your mark in the court or your trademark may have bad or inappropriate meaning in another language.
Also before filing a trademark application in Iran it is recommended to consult with a trademark attorney to search availability of your trademark in registered trademark database and know about similar trademarks.
Therefore, it is recommended to carefully examine all possible issues before registration so that your mark does not encounter any obstacles.
Noban law office can help you in trademark search in Iran.
14. What signs are not allowed to be registered as trademark?
In Iran, the following signs will not be legally registered:
· The sign is against the public ethics or beliefs. For example, you choose a word that is seen as an insult in Iranian's popular culture, or you want to register a sign that undermines the accepted norms and culture of Iranian society.
· Due to some reasons do not have the ability to distinguish goods and services; when the sign is intended to describe the product or service. For example, the word "accurate" is not appropriate for using in a watch advertising a word or "sweet" for honey and chocolate is not distinctive.
· Selecting a common name, or a copy of signs and trademarks of organizations and flags of countries. Registering a word “refrigerator”, for example, is not appropriate for refrigerator products and services.
· Being exactly like or similar to a registered trademark by others and mislead the consumer about the goods or services.
· Signs that confuse consumers about the geographical origin or quality of goods. Damavand mineral water is a good example; Damavand is a name of mountain and geographical region and by registering it by that name, it induces that it is a product of the very exact mountain, while it may be produced elsewhere. Even the owner of the trademark can transfer his rights in another town like YAZD and the product will be produced there. It can be misleading, thus it is prohibited.
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15. Is it necessary to register your trademark in other countries?
Not registering a trademark in another foreign country means freeing up space for other people to register the same trademark for their goods and services. Thus, if you think that in the future, trading and service exchanges of your company will be developed, make sure to consider your trademark registration in other countries.
16. How can I register a trademark in another country?
There are several ways of registration in other countries.
First, filing at the Registration Office of destination country by a local trademark attorney;
Second, if your mentioned country is located in a specific geographic region and you picked some or all of those countries (e.g. European Union) it is better to refer to the registration office of that region and start your registration from there which is better in term of time and cost.
Third, if your selected countries are scattered all around the world, it is better to choose the international registration method. For this, first you should check if your originating country is a member of "Madrid Agreement on International Trademark Registration". In 2001, Iran became a member of both Madrid agreement and Madrid protocol.
It is strongly recommended to consult with a trademark attorney before doing anything. Because if you do not follow all the time and legal points, you may lose your right.
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17. What are the performance guarantees of violating the trademark rights?
According to Iran's laws, there are criminal enforcement (prison, financial punishment, etc.), as well as civil enforcement (compensation). You can sue anyone who used your trademark without permission in the courts.
Noban law office attorneys help you in suing infringers of you trademark in Iran.
18. Who watch a trademark?
Protection of a trademark should be done by the owner of trademark or his agent, who should inform the judicial authorities immediately in case of detection of infringement. The watching of your trademark in Iran can be done through Noban law office attorneys.
