Costa Rica increases publication fees for trademark applications

By on March 18, 2014   /   Intellectual Property, Trademark  

As of February 25, 2014, the official Gazette increased publication fees for trademark applications 

Registered Symbol

As frequent filers of trademark applications in Costa Rica know, official fees for trademark registration in the country are divided into two main categories. The first are filing fees, which are payable to the Industrial Property Registry at the time of filing. The second ones are publication fees, payable to the official Gazette after a successful formal and substantive examination of the application by the Trademark Office. Publication fees are often more expensive than registration fees.

As of February 25, 2014 the Administration Board of the Gazette increased in approximately $20 the minimum publication fees for trademark applications. In addition, applications that include a figurative element (such as a design, logo, stylized font or typeface, etc.) or cover an exceedingly long description of goods and services may also pay a publication surcharge.

Recently, the Gazette discontinued physical publication and the document is now only available online at: http://www.gaceta.go.cr/gaceta/

This publication is meant solely for general information and should not be regarded as legal advice. If you would like additional information, please contact:

For more information:

Luis D. Acuña
tel. 00 (506)  2221-9058
LDAcuna@AcunaLegal.com

 

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Costa Rica: New Guideline for Suspension of Trade and Service Mark Applications

By on March 22, 2012   /   Costa Rica, Intellectual Property, Trademark  

by Luis Acuna, Asesores Legales en Propiedad Industrial (ALPI), Costa Rica

The merits of granting a request to suspend prosecution of a pending trademark, service mark or trade name application before the Costa Rican Industrial Property Registry has traditionally been evaluated in a case-by-case basis. No clear statutory, administrative regulations or judicial decisions have ever been defined, thus making it unclear under which circumstances applicants may file for such a request to fulfill time critical deadlines, allow for ownership changes to be recorded or hindrances to registration to be lifted while maintaining a filing date.

On January 6, 2012, the Director for the Industrial Property Registry issued a Circular DRPI-01-2012 (published in the Official Gazette of February 8, 2012), which states that based on the examination of any related documents filed before Registry, an application may only be suspended if its immediate examination could cause discrepancy with a later final decision.

Regrettably, the circular is not clear and does not go into any detail to explain what is meant by this new guideline, in which cases it applies or how it is supposed to alter existing practice.

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