Trademark registration in New Zealand. New Zealand is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. New Zealand has an advanced market economy, ranked 14th in the 2019 Human Development Index and third in the 2020 Index of Economic Freedom. It is a high-income economy with a nominal gross domestic product (GDP) per capita of US$36,254. 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 New Zealand.
Necessary documents for trademark registration in New Zealand
Necessary documents for trademark registration in New Zealand include:
- Authorization letter;
- Documents proving the right to priority;
- A copy of translations if the document is written in a foreign language;
- License to use the company’s name, personal name, establishment name or logo, images, drawings, or any description appearing on the mark;
- Certificate of permission to use the flags, insignia, symbols, and drawings of the competent authority, or badges, seals, standard certification marks, warranty marks;
- License to use a mark of high symbolic value, the symbol of a geographical name;
- License to use a mark that is confused with the registered trademark.
Principles of trademark registration in New Zealand
New Zealand follows the “first to use” rule to determine industrial property rights to trademarks. This means that the first person to use the mark in New Zealand will have industrial property rights to the trademark, not the person who applies first.
The procedure of trademark registration in New Zealand
The trademark application will be filed at IPONZ. After receiving the application, IPONZ will examine the submitted trademark in terms of form and content within 1-2 months from the date of application. If a sign is found by the IPONZ examiner to be indistinguishable, the sign may still be successfully registered if the applicant provides evidence demonstrating that the sign has attained distinctiveness through the actual use in New Zealand.
After being appraised by IPONZ, if it meets all the requirements for statutory protection, the mark will be published in the New Zealand Intellectual Property Office Journal. The mark will then enter a 3-month objection phrase when any related third party may file an objection to the registration of the trademark.
At the end of the objection period, if no objection is filed, IPONZ will issue a trademark registration certificate to the applicant. Conversely, if there is an objection by a third party, the IPONZ will proceed with the objection procedure and make a final decision based on the arguments and evidence provided by the parties.
The validity of trademark registration in New Zealand
Once a trademark has been registered, the ® symbol can be used as an element of the trademark. Trademark registration certificate in New Zealand will be valid for a period of 10 years from the date of filing. At the end of this period, the trademark owner has the right to file for a trademark renewal indefinitely, each time adding a 10-year cycle.
You can see a list of New Zealand IP firms here.