Registration Of Trademarks In Bulgaria – Importance And Procedure

The mark is a sign which makes possible the distinguishing of the goods or services of a given entity from those of other entities and can be presented graphically. The marks can be trademarks, trademarks for services, joint and certified trademarks, as follows:

  • Trademark – a mark for denoting goods. This type of mark could be jointly possessed by two or more entities/persons, and the arrangements concerning the mark are carried out with the mutual agreement of all possessors.
  • Trademark for Services – a mark for denoting services. This type of mark could also be jointly possessed by two or more entities/persons.
  • Joint Trademark – a mark possessed by a company – legal entity, which is used in accordance with the rules adopted by the company and presented in writing at the registering of the mark. The rights over joint trademarks cannot be transferred and the usage of these rights by business establishments outside the company is not allowed.
  • Certified Trademark – certifies the used material, elaboration, quality and other features of goods and services, manufactured or offered under the control of the trademark’s possessor. The possessor has to adopt certain rules for its usage, as well as control measures and sanctions, applied (by the possessor) whenever necessary..

According to the Law for the Trademarks and the Geographical Symbols, the right over the trademark belongs to those who first submit a request in the Patent Office. That’s why we recommend you to carry out a preliminary investigation before submitting a request. An investigation can be carried out for you and a written statement will be produced, which shall include detailed information for all the similar trademarks (if there are such), as well as information how to transform your trademark in order to prevent problems with registration.

The respective legal regulations are contained within the Law for the Trademarks and the Geographical Symbols, the Regulation for Preparing, Submitting and Investigation of Requests for Registering Trademarks and Geographical Symbols, the Tariff for the fees collected by the Patent Office of the Republic of Bulgaria, the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (from 1883) and the International Classification of Goods and Services, First Council Directive of 21 December 1988 on the approximation of laws of the Member States relating to trademarks of December 21, 1988 on the approximation of laws of the Member States relating to trademarks, Regulation (EU) № 207/2009 of Council of 26 February 2009 on the Community trade mark Regulation (EU) № 2868/95 of 13 December 1995 on conditions and application of Regulation (EU) № 40/94 of the Council on the Community trade mark by December 13, 1995 on conditions and application of Regulation (EU) № 40/94 of the Council on the Community trade mark

What is the advantage to register a trademark?

The registration of the trademark is done with the purpose of obtaining exclusive rights over that trademark on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria. If registration in other countries is necessary, it has to be carried out in accordance with the requirements for international registration.

Registration is not mandatory. It is carried out with the purpose of obtaining rights over the trademark. With the registration of the trademark is confirmed the right for its exclusive usage for a 10-year period (from the date of request submitting) on the territory of the country. The exclusive right includes the right of the trademark possessor to use the trademark, to make arrangements concerning the trademark and to prohibit third persons from using the trademark in their business activities without the consent of the possessor. The usage prohibition also extents to:

  • putting the trademark sign on third persons’ goods or their packages;
  • offering the goods of third persons for sale with this sign, bringing such goods on the market or storage of such goods with the same purpose, as well as offering or providing services under that trademark sign;
  • import or export of goods under that trademark sign;
  • using the registered trademark sign in sales papers and advertisements.

The usage of the trademark by its possessor is a necessary condition for keeping the registration. If within five years from the date of registration the possessor still has not started using the trademark or if the usage of the trademark has been stopped for a period of five years, the registration can be cancelled.

The arrangements with the rights over the trademark include transferring the rights over the trademark or granting permission for using the trademark with a written agreement for exclusive or non-exclusive license. The agreements made for each type of arrangement are registered in the Register of the Patent Office and become effective for third persons from the date of their registration in the Register.

The right over the trademark can be subject to compensations in regard to current or future claims. The right over the trademark is part of the recompenses in case of bankruptcy, if there are proceedings for bankruptcy against the trademark possessor and that is also registered in the Register and is published in the official newsletter of the Patent Office. The compensation and the special pledge also have effect in regard to third persons, from the moment of registering in the National Register the trademarks in the Patent Office.

According to Bulgarian legislation, the rights over the trademark result from its registration, i.e. they are granted as a result of a certain procedure and have accurately defined capacity and range. The registration can be updated by paying the required fee unlimited number of times for 10-year periods.

Registration procedure:

For receiving a trademark registration, submitting a request to the Patent Office of the Republic of Bulgaria is necessary. The request has to be submitted directly, by the post, by facsimile or as an electronic copy. The request has to be prepared according to the standard form of the Patent Office. It has to include the following:

Mandatory documents:

  • Request for registration
  • Applicant data
  • Trademark image, sized 7/7 cm, capable of reproduction and painted in black and white (if no colours are claimed). If certain colours are demanded, the image has to be colourful and the request has to contain the specific distribution of the colours (described in words). If the trademark is three-dimensional, that has to be properly demonstrated with the image, and views from different perspectives can also be shown, together with the description of the trademark and/or the instructions for its verbal elements and the way they have to be written, in Cyrillic or Latin letters.
  • List of the goods and/or services assigned to the trademark, according to the International Classification of Goods and Services.
  • Signature of the applicant or the representative.

Optional elements of the request are the contact address, the data for the industrial property representative (when there is such authorized representative) and priority claim (when priority is claimed). Priority can be conventional and exhibition priority.The competent authority is the Patent Office of the Republic of Bulgaria. For requesting a registration of a trademark in Bulgaria, the following information is required:

1. Name and address of the applicant/applicants

2. The trademark which will be registered:

• if the trademark includes an image, you can attach a copy of it or send it by email in graphical format; the image may be colourful.

3. Full list of the goods and/or services for which the trademark will be used.

4. Document of Priority (if priority is claimed).

5. Power of Attorney (notary certification is not required) – the Power of Attorney can be presented within 3 months from the date of submitting the request.

The registration period for one trademark is about 24 months, unless it is accelerated. The validity time limit of the registered trademark is 10 years from the date of submitting the request. This time limit can be resumed every 10 years.

For receiving a trademark registration, submitting a request to the Patent Office of the Republic of Bulgaria is necessary. The request has to be prepared according to the standard form of the Patent Office. It has to include the following:

  • Mandatory documents:
  • Request for registration
  • Applicant data
  • Trademark image, sized 7/7 cm, capable of reproduction and painted in black and white (if no colours are claimed). If certain colours are demanded, the image has to be colourful and the request has to contain the specific distribution of the colours (described in words). If the trademark is three-dimensional, that has to be properly demonstrated with the image, and views from different perspectives can also be shown, together with the description of the trademark and/or the instructions for its verbal elements and the way they have to be written, in Cyrillic or Latin letters.
  • List of the goods and/or services assigned to the trademark, according to the International Classification of Goods and Services.
  • Signature of the applicant or the representative.
  • The following documents have to be attached to the request:
  • Power of Attorney – if the applicant uses the services of Industrial Property Representative.
  • Document of Priority – when conventional priority is claimed, this document represents a duplicate of the original (earlier) request, certified by the competent authority in the respective state. When exhibition priority is claimed, the required document is a certificate for participation in the exhibition, issued by the administrators of the exhibition. That document must also specify the trademark of the exhibited goods, as well as the date of presentation on the exhibition.
  • Document for paid fees – that document must contain data for the applicant or the representative, information about the trademark, for which registration is requested, the articles from the Tariff for the fees, on which the payment was effected (if the payment was effected by transfer by wire).

The application shall be signed by the applicant or his representative. Where the applicant is a legal person or sole proprietor, it is necessary to point the position of the person signing the application and to put a seal. Within two months of presenting the document for paid fees paid, a formal examination is to carried out. In the event that of any deficiencies, the applicant shall be notified and be given a three-month period to correct them. If within this period, the applicant does not respond, do not remove the defects or object, there will be made a decision to terminate the proceedings. Each application which meets the formal requirements shall be published in the Official bulletin of the Patent Office.

Within two months from the date of publication of the application, any person may oppose registration of the mark. The person making the objection is not a participant in an application. After the formal verification of the documents, each application is assessed by an expert in substance, including analysis of absolute grounds for registration, a survey of fund applied for and registered marks in national and international order and check the relative grounds for registration by the applicant subsequent correspondence. The Patent Office shall make a decision to register the trademark of to refuse registration. Decisions on termination of the application or refusal of registration may be appealed within three months and a fee.