Trademark registration in Slovenia. Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. Slovenia is a developed country, with an advanced high-income economy; ranking very high in the Human Development Index. Measured by Gini, Slovenia has one of the lowest rates of income inequality in the world. It is a member of various international organizations, including the United Nations, the European Union, the Eurozone, the Schengen Area, the OSCE, the OECD, the Council of Europe, and NATO. 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 Slovenia.
Trademark in Slovenia
A trademark in Slovenia can be any sign or any combination of signs, provided that it is capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one party from other parties.
Furthermore, a trademark must also be capable of being graphically represented, in particular words, including personal names, letters, numerals, figurative elements, three-dimensional images, including the shape of goods or of their packaging, combination of colors as well as any combination of such signs.
Forbidden marks in Slovenia
A mark can’t be registered in Slovenia if it is devoid of any distinctive character, merely descriptive, exclusively the shape of goods or their packaging, misleading, customary in the current language, contrary to public order or morality, official symbol covered by Article 6ter of the Paris Convention.
Furthermore, the mark would also not be able to be registered as a trademark if it is plain ideas, principles, discoveries, official texts, such as legislative or judicial texts, or for literary and artistic creations that belong to the Slovenian folklore.
The procedure of trademark registration in Slovenia
To obtain trademark protection in Slovenia, the applicant needs to file their trademark application to the Slovenian Patent Office.
After receiving the trademark application, the examiner at the IP Office of Slovenia will conduct a formal and substantial examination on the application to check if the mark complies with the regulations of the law.
The examiners will check the classification and the descriptiveness of the trademark, along with other aspects.
If there is anything wrong with the applications, it will be a reason for refusal. Accordingly, the applicant needs to best prepare their application before officially filing for registration.
If there are no issues, the trademark application will be published in the “Bilten za industrijsko lastnino”. After the publication, there will be a 3 months opposition period in which any third parties may file for oppositions of the trademark registration.
If there are no oppositions, the applicant will receive the Slovenian Certificate of Trademark Registration.
Note:
The process of registering a trademark in Slovenia will take about 12 months from the application.
Slovenia is a member of the Madrid Protocol. Accordingly, the applicants can file their trademark application through the Madrid System to obtain trademark protection in Slovenia.
The community trademark in Slovenia can be registered with the O.H.I.M. system and is available for all EU member states.
The protection period for a trademark in Slovenia
After registration, a trademark in Slovenia has a protection period of 10 years. Every 10 years, the trademark owner must file for renewal of the trademark to extend the protection period for another 10 years.
In addition, the trademark owner must also use the trademark within 5 years from the registration date, or else it might be vulnerable to cancellation actions filed by third parties.
You can see a list of Slovenia IP firms here.