Bolivia is a landlocked country located in western-central South America. The registration of a trademark in Bolivia grants the owner the protection of the trademark and its exclusive use to defend the mark against third parties in all the Bolivian territory.
Register a trademark in Bolivia
Bolivia is a signatory to the Andean Community Pact. Therefore, trademark registration in Bolivia grants the owner of the trademark certain preferential rights in the rest of the Andean Community countries which include Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.
As Bolivia is also a signatory to the Paris Convention, the registrations filed in other countries which are a part of the Paris Convention are also valid, especially for priority matters.
Trademark registration procedures in Bolivia
Applicants may submit their application to the Bolivian branch of the National Intellectual Property Service of SENAPI. The following documents are required for trademark registration in Bolivia:
- Identification of the applicant (full name, name, and address of the company).
- Providing logo of TM in GIF or JPG formats, subject to the protection of intellectual property. If the image has color, it is important to register the specific colors.
- Examination of the trademark (search for existing trademarks for similarity in Bolivia).
- Determination of the class of services and products of the trademark. The authorities of Bolivia require a detailed list of goods or services included in one class. Attaching products to several classes is prohibited.
Note:
The official language accepted in the trademark application is Spanish. Therefore, all documents must be submitted in Spanish to the Bolivian branch of the National Intellectual Property Service of SENAPI.
The normal time to examine and grant a trademark certificate is 12 months.
The opposition of the trademark registration in Bolivia
There is an opposition term of 30 days since the time the trademark is published. If no oppositions are filed against the application, the trademark goes into the registrability analysis stage in the Trademark Office.
Trademark Renewal in Bolivia
The registration certificate is valid for 10 years. Upon the expiry of the validity period of the certificate, the applicant may file for renewal of the trademark for another 10 years indefinitely. The trademark renewal application must be filed to the Trademark Office with all the legal requisites.
There is also a 6-months grace period provided by the Bolivian law to file for renewal if the applicant forgets to extend the renewal of the trademark.
You can find a list of Bolivia IP firms here.