How to register a sports trademark?

How to register a sports trademark?

The registration of sports trademarks in Spain follows the common registration procedure for all other trademarks, but with some differences due to the sporting nature of the trademark

By protecting their trademarks and building a solid corporate identity, companies, including those related to the manufacture of sporting goods, the organization of sporting events or sports teams, manage to stand out from the competition and strengthen their reputation..

Brands are powerful and indispensable marketing tools. In sports, the strategic use of brands provides significant commercial opportunities to generate revenue.

In the following lines we will review the procedure to follow in order to successfully conclude the registration of a sports trademark, from the moment of filing the application, to the completion of the procedure with the expected grant.

During the whole process to obtain a successful registration of our trademark, it will be essential to have the advice of a professional specialized in this type of proceedings. At Let’s Law by RSM we are specialized lawyers in trademark law. 

Brand research

The previous step in any trademark application will consist of carrying out a previous analysis of other registrations that may exist in the market in comparison with our trademark.

This implies that it will be necessary to carry out an analysis of other registrations related to identical or similar trademarks that have been applied for or granted.

The purpose of this analysis will be to define the feasibility of proceeding with the registration of our sports trademark.

For this purpose, the search for similar or identical antecedents to that of our trademark should be carried out by performing searches in the trademark registry of the OEPM, the registry of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (hereinafter, the EUIPO), and we should also review those registrations of International Trademarks with effects in Spain

It is necessary to take into account that trademark applications are made for certain classes within the 45 types of classes available in the Nice international classification.

In this sense, if we find in the trademark databases identical or similar registrations to our trademark, the application must be made at least for those classes that have not been applied for in those registrations prior to ours. However, we recommend that this decision be made by an attorney specialized in trademarks

Once the previous trademark antecedents have been analyzed, and considering that our expert has given the “green light” to the registration, it will be necessary to file the application before the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office (OEPM), or before the registry of the country in which we wish to obtain the registration protection for our trademark.

The OEPM is an autonomous agency of the General State Administration (AGE) that promotes and supports technological and economic development by granting legal protection to the different types of industrial property through the granting of patents and utility models, industrial designs and, as in this case, trademarks and trade names.

In this sense, it is necessary to take into account that the protection granted by the European trademark grants protection in all the member countries of the European Union, having to proceed in this case to file the trademark application before the European Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) with headquarters in Alicante.

The EUIPO is the agency of the European Union (EU) in charge of managing EU trademarks and EU designs, European and international cooperation in the field of intellectual property (IP), as well as the European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights.

Trademark Application through the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office

Before filling out the trademark registration application, we must carry out some previous steps, which are also essential:

• Check if the trademark exists.
• We access the OEPM trademark locator and search for our trademark.
• If we see that our trademark does not exist, we can register our trademark.

The registration of a trademark can be done in person by filling out the application form and submitting it at the OEPM or at the Regional Industrial Property Information Centers.

To carry out this registration online at the OEPM we must follow eight simple steps:

1. Access the application for filing the application for filing the application.
2. Enter the applicant’s identification data.
3. Enter the data of the distinctive sign you wish to apply for
4. Prepare the list of goods, services or activities for which you want your distinctive sign to be registered
5. Attach the relevant documentation.
6. Review the draft application
7. Make the payment of the fee
8. Download the filing receipt or send it to an e-mail address.

Processing and granting

Once our trademark application has been filed, the application will be published in the Official Industrial Property Gazette (BOPI) within one month. From the publication in the BOPI, a period of 2 months will begin for third parties to file oppositions.

If there are no oppositions to our trademark, it will be granted within approximately 5 months from the filing of the application, being in force for periods of 10 years, renewable indefinitely upon payment of the corresponding fees.

In this sense, it is necessary to highlight the fact that trademark registrations, unlike other intellectual and industrial property rights such as copyrights or patents, are granted for an unlimited period of time upon payment of the corresponding registration fees every 10-year period.

At Letslaw by RSM we have in our team trademark lawyers specialized in carrying out registration applications at an international level.