Trademark registration in Serbia. Serbia, officially the Republic of Serbia, is a landlocked country in Central and Southeast Europe. Serbia is an upper-middle-income economy, ranked 64th and “very high” in the Human Development Index domain. It is a unitary parliamentary constitutional republic, a member of the UN, CoE, OSCE, PfP, BSEC, CEFTA, AIIB, and is acceding to the WTO. Since 2014, the country has been negotiating its EU accession, with the aim of joining the European Union by 2025. 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 Serbia.
Trademark in Serbia
Regarding Intellectual property, the law on Serbia protects the business’s IP assets based on the following laws:
- Law on Trademarks;
- Law on Copyright and Related Rights;
- Law on Semiconductor Circuits;
- Law on Patents.
In addition, Serbia is also a member of many international IP treaties such as the Hague Agreement, the Berne Convention, and the Paris Convention which have immense effects on the enforcement and protection of IP in Serbia.
Based on Serbia’s law and IP treaties, the marks in Serbia that can be registered as a trademark include words, slogans, letters, numbers, images, drawings, combinations of colors, three-dimensional shapes, combinations of such marks, as well as sounds and graphically presentable musical notes.
Forbidden marks in Serbia
Forbidden marks in Serbia that can’t be registered as trademarks are:
- Marks that are contrary to public policy or morality;
- Marks that are descriptive;
- Marks that are not distinctive;
- Marks that are generic;
- Marks that are deceptive to the public as to the nature, quality, or geographical origin of the goods or services;
- Marks that are identical to a mark that has already been registered or pending;
- Marks that may cause confusion among the public or a likelihood of association with the earlier trademark;
Necessary documents for trademark registration in Serbia
Necessary documents for trademark registration in Serbia include:
- The application for trademark registration in Serbia;
- 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 Serbia
To obtain trademark protection in Serbia, the applicant needs to file their trademark application according to the form provided on the official website of the Intellectual Property Office of Serbia.
After receiving the trademark application, the examiner at the IP office of Serbia will conduct a thorough examination in 15-30 days to check if the
the application complies with the regulations of the law.
If there are no issues, the trademark will be registered.
Validity period
Once registered, the trademark in Serbia will be protected for 10 years.
Every 10 years, the trademark owner may file for renewal of the trademark to extend the protection period for another 10 years.
Note:
Serbia provides for acceleration of the trademark filing process. Accordingly, for a fee, the applicant can request a priority for their application.
Use requirement of a trademark in Serbia
Once registered, the trademark owner needs to use the trademark on a commercial scale within a period of 5 years, or else, it might be canceled on the basis of non-use according to the request of third parties.
You can see a list of Serbia IP firms here.