Trademark registration in Papua New Guinea. Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and its offshore islands in Melanesia (a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean north of Australia). Most of the people of Papua live in strong traditional social groups based on farming. Their social lives combine traditional religion with modern practices, including primary education. 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 Papua New Guinea.
Trademark in Papua New Guinea
A mark that is registrable as a trademark Papua New Guinea is a visible distinctive word or words, letter (s), numeral (number), drawing, picture, shape, color, logotype, label, or a combination of one or all of these things.
A trademark in Papua New Guinea must have the following characteristics:
- Capable of distinguishing your goods or services of the owner from the same or similar goods or services of other businesses/entities in the marketplace;
- Enables businesses’ products and services to stand out in the marketplace and be recognized or identified by customers;
- Establish image – reputation over time.
Forbidden signs as a trademark in Papua New Guinea
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- Marks that are contrary to moral standards or public order;
- Marks that are generic terms;
- Marks that are non-distinctive;
- Marks that are surnames;
- Marks that are geographic location names;
- Marks that are contrary to law;
- Marks that may deceive the public or cause confusion.
Necessary documents for trademark registration in Papua New Guinea
Necessary documents for trademark registration in Papua New Guinea include:
- The application for trademark registration in Papua New Guinea;
- Detailed information of the applicant (name, nationality, and address, etc.);
- Detailed information of the representative or attorney (name, nationality, and address, etc.);
- Classification of goods and/or services;
- Trademark sample;
- Priority documents (If any);
- The prescribed fee.
The procedure of trademark registration in Papua New Guinea
In order to obtain trademark protection in Papua New Guinea, the applicant needs to submit the trademark application to the Intellectual Property Office of Papua New Guinea (IPOPNG).
After receiving the trademark application, the trademark will then go through the examination process to check if the trademark is confusingly similar to a previously registered trademark or pending trademark.
The examination of the application will be based on the following criteria:
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- Formalities;
- Classification;
- Clarity;
- Descriptiveness;
- Distinctiveness;
- Deceptiveness;
- Conflict with prior registration.
After the examination process, the trademark application will be published in the trademark journal by the Intellectual Property Office of Papua New Guinea for the opposition period.
Other parties will have a 3 months opposition period in which they can 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.
Note:
The average time frame from the first filing to the registration of the mark is 10 months. If there are objections or oppositions arise, the term may extend to 2 years.
Papua New Guinea is not a member of the European Union. Accordingly, the Community Trade Mark registration is not effective in this jurisdiction.
Validity period, renewal, and use requirement of a trademark in Papua New Guinea
After successful registration of the trademark in Papua New Guinea, the applicant will receive the trademark registration certificate and the trademark will have a protection period of 10 years.
Every 10 years, the trademark owner may file for renewal of the trademark to extend its protection period for an additional 10 years.
In addition, after registration, the trademark owner needs to use the trademark on a commercial scale within a period of three years.
The use can be minimal but it must occur within the jurisdiction of Papua New Guinea.
You can see a list of Papua New Guinea IP firms here.