Distinctive signs are classified as TRADEMARKS, which distinguish goods or services, and TRADE NAMES, which refer to the business itself.


TRADEMARK
A TRADEMARK is a certificate which grants the exclusive right to use a sign to distinguish goods or services on the market.

Words or combinations of words, images, figures, symbols, graphics, letters, numbers, three-dimensional shapes (wrappers, containers, shapes of the product or its representation) and others can be TRADEMARKS.

A TRADEMARK right is obtained through the registration of the mark in the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office and it allows the proprietor to exercise any relevant civil or criminal actions against illegal imitations before judicial bodies.

According to the nomenclature used today, TRADEMARKS are grouped in 45 classes. The first 34 classes relate to goods and the remaining 11 classes relate to services (see the trademark nomenclature).

TRADEMARKS are granted for 10 years counting from the filing date and can be indefinitely renewed.

TRADE NAME

A TRADE NAME is any sign that can be graphically represented and identifies a company in commercial trade. It can also be used to differentiate that company from other companies that perform similar or identical activities.

 Personal names, company names and the names of legal persons (e.g.: public limited or private limited companies), fictitious names, names alluding to the object of the company’s activity, anagrams and logotypes, images, figures and drawings can be TRADE NAMES.

 TRADE NAMES are independent of the company names registered in the corresponding Companies Registries.

                   Like trademarks, they are grouped in 45 classes. The first 34 classes relate to goods and the remaining 11 classes relate to services (see the trademark nomenclature).

TRADE NAMES are granted for 10 years counting from the filing date and can be indefinitely renewed.

A Community Trademark is a single and indivisible trademark registration that is effective in all countries of the European Union. Today these countries include:

AUSTRIA	BENELUX	BENELUX (Belgium-Netherlands-Luxemburg)	BULGARIA/div>	CYPRUS
CZECH REPUBLIC	DENMARK	ESTONIA	FINLAND	GERMANY
GREECE	HUNGARY	IRELAND	ITALY	LATVIA
LITHUANIA	MALTA	POLAND	PORTUGAL	ROMANIA
SLOVAKIA	SLOVENIA	SPAIN	SSWEDEN	UNITED KINGDOM

An earlier Community Trademark or a national trademark of any Community country can be used as the basis for any challenge (opposition, appeal...) to an application for the registration of a Community Trademark with a later date.

The protection or refusal of a trademark will affect all the EU countries listed above. An application for a Community Trademark that is not granted may be transferred to one or several countries of the EU in the attempt to separately file for registration using the national procedure.

An International Trademark is a registered mark that is valid for 10 renewable years. It is processed by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and simultaneously covers one, several or all the countries that are included under this type of protection. The possible refusal of a country only affects that particular country, and the validity of the trademark remains valid for all other countries.

International Trademarks must be based on a previously registered Spanish and/or Community trademark, and the countries to choose from are:

ALBANIA	ANTIGUA and BARBADOS	ALGERIA	ARMENIA
AZERBAIJAN	AUSTRALIA	AUSTRIA	BAHRAIN
BENELUX	BHUTAN	BOSNIA HERZEGOVINA	BOTSWANA
BULGARIA	BYELORUSSIA	BULGARIA	CROATIA
CUBA	CYPRUS	CZECH REP.	DEM. PEOPLE’S REP. OF KOREA
DENMARK	EGYPT	ESTONIA	EUROPEAN COMMUNITY
FINLAND	FRANCE	GEORGIA	GERMANY
GHANA	GREECE	HUNGARY	ICELAND
IRAN	IRELAND	ITALY	JAPAN
KAZAKHSTAN	KENYA	KYRGYZSTAN	LATVIA
LESOTHO	LIBERIA	LIECHTENSTEIN	LITHUANIA
MACEDONIA	MADAGASCAR	MOLDAVIA	MONACO
MONGOLIA	MONTENEGRO	MOROCCO	MOZAMBIQUE
NAMIBIA	NETHERLANDS ANTILLES	NORWAY	OMAN
PEOPLE’S REP. OF CHINA	POLAND	PORTUGAL	REP. OF KOREA
ROMANIA	RUSSIA	SAN MARINO	ST. THOMAS AND PRINCE ISLANDS
SERBIA	SIERRA LEONE	SINGAPORE	SLOVAKIA
SLOVENIA	SUDAN	SWAZILAND	SWEDEN
SWITZERLAND	SYRIA	TAJIKISTAN	TURKEY
TURKMENISTAN	UKRAINE	UNITED KINGDOM	UNITED STATES
UZBEKISTAN	VIETNAM	ZAMBIA

Both the application for and the extension of an International Trademark can be done using several classes of goods and/or services provided that they are identical to the original national trademarks.





The process of applying for a trademark in countries that are not included in the International Trademark and/or Community Trademark Conventions is done individually for each country. A list of some of the most important countries and where the trademark should be separately filed in each of them are provided below:

ARGENTINA	COLOMBIA	MEXICO	VENEZUELA	UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
NEW ZEALAND	BRAZIL	ISRAEL	CANADA	SOUTH AFRICA
JORDAN

The first Trademark Law of the Principality of Andorra was published in its Official Journal on May 24, 1995 and the Trademark Office began to receive the first applications after December 5, 1996.

This law acknowledges the principle that protection is based on registration of the mark. Nevertheless, certain rights which were acquired before this Law entered into force were recognized on a temporary basis, such as:

		Priority resulting from an earlier use in the Principality of Andorra.
		Priority resulting from a registered trademark in a member country of the Paris Convention (Paris Union Convention).