Register my Company Trademark

One of the most important things we think about when creating our own company is the name we will use, how it will work… To carry out all this, one of the essential steps is to register the name we are going to give to our project, one of the essential steps is the registration of the name that we are going to give to our project.

Trademark registration in Spain is a simple step that does not take long, but it is a fundamental step in the launching strategy of a product, a service or a business model. The trademark in Spain is the main element with which a company identifies itself.

It is retained in the consumer’s mind and its registration is a type of protection that grants its owner, whether an individual or a legal entity, the exclusive right to use the distinctive sign deposited to distinguish its corresponding products and services.

If something is not registered, in this case, registered in the Trademark Registry, it can be used by third parties without legal consequences.

A prior art search is not an obligation for those who file a trademark in order to get it registered. However, it is essential to make sure that there is no other similar or identical prior trademark to avoid unnecessary opposition proceedings for not having carried out an analysis prior to choosing your trademark.

Unfortunately, not all applicants usually carry out this type of research, both because of its difficulty and because there is a general conviction that the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism should be in charge of this ex officio

In fact, trademarks are granted without any prior examination, so, from this point of view, they do not guarantee the holder in the least. There are several ways to start a prior search. In the Chambers of Commerce of each province, it is possible to make a consultation of the national database.

However, this type of research does not offer much security and the Ministry itself warns about the uncertainty of the data obtained, which could be incomplete.

Even in the best of cases, a search made in the national database does not offer any guarantee for the mere fact that it only contains Spanish trademarks, missing all trademarks registered in other countries of the world, including European Union trademarks and those international trademarks with effects in Spain.

There are different procedures depending on how you want to register your trademark: national registration, European or international registration.

Therefore, for a serious and exhaustive research, the trademark applicant should turn to a specialized trademark registration firm such as ours, which for this specific service uses international databases from around 40 countries.

Research of this type, carried out for a not high cost that may vary according to the territories to be covered by the trademark, is guaranteed to be around 90%, and is the only one that can offer the holder of its future trademark an almost complete picture of the registration panorama related to the denomination or logo that it intends to protect and register.

What types of trademarks can I register?

The registration of a Spanish trademark is effective in the whole territory of Spain. There are different types of trademarks that can be filed in Spain. The most classic ones would be:

• Word marks are those that identify a product or service through a name. They can be formed by letters, numbers or several words, and can include orthographic signs. Some examples of word marks are NIKE, ZARA and LEVI’S, which consist of logos formed by letters in a single color and typography.
• Figurative marks combine visual elements, such as images, figures or drawings, with letters, words or numbers. They are a mixture of nominative (using only words) and innominate (based only on images) marks. An example of a mixed trademark is Sanborns or Lacoste, where a representative text is combined with an image or drawing, which gives them a unique and distinctive meaning. This combination facilitates the differentiation of these brands from other similar brands in the market

Other types of trademarks

• Sound mark, which consists of the right of protection granted to a melody, a sound or other type of sound effect. An example of this type would be the melody of Mercadona in its supermarkets.
• Trademark of Form, which consists of the peculiar outward appearance, format, or make of an image. As an example, we find the apple symbol to identify the Apple brand.
• Position Mark, which consists of the specific way in which the mark is placed or appears on the product.
• Pattern Mark, which consists exclusively of a set of elements that are repeated periodically.
• Olfactory Mark, which consists of the particular formula that is under a flagrance or odor. For example, the characteristic smell of Abercrombie & Fitch clothing stores.
• Motion Mark, which consists of or includes a movement or a change in the position of the elements of a mark.
• Color, which consists of the color itself characteristic for a category of goods or services. An example of this type of mark would be the color of Coca Cola which would be red or Twitter which would be blue.
• Multimedia, which consists of or includes a combination of images and sound.
• Hologram, a new category of branding (as of October 1, 2017). Hologram marks are composed of elements with holographic features.

Both the Spanish trademark application and the trademark registration grant the holder the right to access customs protection or to request the seizure of counterfeit goods.

For more information on trademark registration in Spain, do not hesitate to contact us. Our team in Let’s Law by RSM have a wide experience on trademark registration.