Trademark registration in Denmark. Denmark, officially the Kingdom of Denmark, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. Denmark ranks highly in some metrics of national performance, including education, health care, protection of civil liberties, democratic governance, and LGBT equality. Accordingly, many businesses want to enter this market and one of the most important preparations a business needs to take before expanding to this country is to learn the procedure of trademark registration in Denmark.
Signs approvable for trademark registration in Denmark
Signs approvable for trademark registration in Denmark include:
- Words: the distinctive name of the company/organization that runs the product or service;
- Logos and combinations: figurative marks are either a logo or figurative marks that include words;
- Colors and sounds: a color or combination of colors can be registered as a trademark (When the color is essential to the recognization of the product/service).
The procedure of trademark registration in Denmark
Once the application for trademark registration in Denmark is submitted, the Danish Patent and Trademark Office will examine it thoroughly. Specifically, the Office will conduct the examinations based on the distinctiveness of the mark, similarity to other registered marks, identical or almost identical names, and other issues which may be classified as follow:
- Distinctiveness: an essential requirement in order to successfully register a trademark in Denmark is distinctiveness. Accordingly, the logo, sign, word, etc. needs to be both distinctive and non-descriptive in which it must not refer to the characteristics of the products;
- Similarity: The Office will check the similarity with all existing trademarks registered by the Office and a comparison is also made with the trademarks registered with the national and the Community Trade Marks database. In addition, international registrations that have validity in Denmark are also considered to be examined for similarity with the registered trademark.
- Comparison to registered company names: the application will be compared with company names that may be infringed by the mark and the trademark that has identical or similar names to existing company names might be rejected to register;
- Comparison to protected names: the trademark will be compared with family names that are protected and cannot be used for commercial purposes. If the trademark has identical or similar names to the protected names, it might be rejected to register.
If the trademark does not violate any rules set in the examination process in any way, the trademark will be approved by the Office and published in the Danish Trademark Gazette. A registration certificate is issued and sent to the applicant.
After the trademark is successfully registered, any related third parties will have a two-month opposition period to file an objection to the mark that has been published in the Gazette. If no opposition is file during this time, the final and formal trademark registration statement is then issued by the Office.
Note: Foreign companies in Denmark can also benefit from some level of a trademark of protection through the Community Trade Marks, which are valid in the country.
IP treaties that Denmark is a member of:
The most important local laws related to IP in Denmark are:
- The Consolidate Patents Act;
- The Consolidate Designs Act;
- The Consolidate Trademarks Act;
- The Consolidate Utility Models Act;
- The Consolidated Act on Copyright.
Denmark is also a signatory member of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) treaties and the Vienna Agreement Establishing an International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks, among others.
You can see a list of Denmark IP firms here.