Trademark registration in Macau. Macau also spelled Macao and officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of the People’s Republic of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. Macau has a capitalist service economy largely based on casino gaming and tourism. Macau’s gaming industry is the largest in the world, generating over MOP195 billion (US$24 billion) in revenue and about seven times larger than that of Las Vegas. 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 Macau.
Necessary documents for trademark registration in Macau
Necessary documents for trademark registration in Macau include:
- The application for the trademark registration in Macau;
- List of goods/services according to international classification;
- Trademark sample;
- Translation and transliteration of foreign language in the mark;
- Notarized Power of Attorney (POA);
- Priority documents (If any).
The procedure of trademark registration in Macau
Although Macau is a special administrative region of China, it has its own trademarks office. Accordingly, the trademark registered in China will not offer any protection in that jurisdiction.
Accordingly, in order to obtain trademark protection in Macau, the applicant needs to file the trademark application to the Intellectual Property Office of Macau.
After receiving the application, the examiner will examine the trademark in formality and later, a substantive examination will be conducted. The entire examination process will take about 5-8 months.
If there are no errors detected in the examinations, the trademark application will be published in the official gazette for 2 months. During this period, any third parties may file for the opposition of the registration of the mark.
The probabilities of success for an opposition will vary in each case depending on the circumstances.
If there are no oppositions, the trademark will be registered and the applicant will receive the trademark registration certificate within 2 weeks after the end of the publication period.
Unlike other countries and even China, a trademark in Macau will have a validity period of 7 years from the filing date.
After 7 years, the trademark owner may file for renewal of the trademark to extend the protection period for another 7 years.
The renewal may be requested as early as 6 months before the expiration date and as late as 6 months after it upon payment of the late filing fee.
Note:
If the trademark registration process goes smoothly, the entire time from first filing to the granting of the trademark registration certificate will be 8-12 months.
Use requirement of a trademark in Macau
Although a trademark does not have to be in use for it to register in Macau, it must not go unused for longer than 3 years after registration or it will become vulnerable to cancellation actions based on lack of non-use of the trademark.
You can see a list of Macau IP firms here.