Trademark registration in Croatia. Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe on the Adriatic Sea. Croatia is classified by the World Bank as a high-income economy and ranks very high on the Human Development Index. Service, industrial sectors, and agriculture dominate the economy of Croatia, respectively. Croatia provides social security, universal health care, and tuition-free primary and secondary education while supporting culture through public institutions and corporate investments in media and publishing. Due to these reasons, many businesses want to enter this market and one of the most important preparations a business needs to take before expanding to Croatia is to learn the procedure of trademark registration in Croatia.
Signs approvable as trademark registration in Croatia
Signs approvable as trademark registration in Croatia include words, personal names, designs, letters, numerals, the shape of goods or their packaging, three-dimensional forms, colors, patterns, sounds, multimedia, holograms as well as the combinations of all the above-indicated signs.
Necessary documents for trademark registration in Croatia
Necessary documents for trademark registration in Croatia include:
- Application for the registration of a trademark in Croatia;
- Signed Power of Attorney (POA);
- Detailed information about the applicant;
- List of the goods or services;
- Trademark models.
- A certified copy of the priority document (if any) that is translated into Croatian and certified by the court interpreter.
The opposition of trademark registration in Croatia
Once registered, any related third parties may file an opposition against the trademark application in Croatia within three months from the publication of the application.
Validity term and trademark renewal in Croatia
A trademark in Croatia is valid for 10 years from the date of filing. The applicant may file for a renewal of the trademark for another 10 years, provided that the owner of the trademark files a request for renewal of the trademark registration in the final year before the expiration date of the trademark.
The request for the renewal of the trademark may be submitted within the grace period of 6 months after the expiration date with a payment of a surcharge.
Note:
Trademark protection in Croatia may also be obtained via registration of a European Union Trademark.
Croatia is also a member state of the Madrid Protocol. Thus, the extension of international registration of a trademark via the Madrid System is possible for this country.
Use requirement of trademark in Croatia
A trademark doesn’t need to be in use at the time of application or registration. However, prior use may be useful as it can increase the trademark owner’s claim and help the owner overcome an objection raised on the grounds of lack of distinctiveness.
Trademark registration in Croatia may be revoked if, within a continuous period of 5 years following the date of registration, it has not been put to genuine use in the Republic of Croatia concerning the goods or services in respect of which it is registered. In addition, the trademark may also be revoked if the use of the said trademark has been suspended during an uninterrupted period of five years and there are no justified reasons for non-use.
You can see a list of Croatia IP firms here.