- Australia
1. Tonga, belonging to Oceania, is located in the western South Pacific, west of the International Date Line, and adjacent to Fiji to the west. On July 29, 2008, King George Tupou V of Tonga announced that he would transfer power to parliament, relinquish power, and move towards democracy, but still maintain a constitutional monarchy, making him the only country among the islands in the South Pacific to maintain a monarchy. Tonga is mainly engaged in agriculture, fisheries, and tourism, with underdeveloped industry, low productivity, backward economic development, and heavy dependence on foreign aid.
2. Tonga's original trademark law was Regulation No. 11 of 1939, which came into effect on September 28, 1939. The new industrial property law and regulations came into effect on February 1, 2000.
3. The official languages are Tongan and English.
4. Tonga's trademark law belongs to the Anglo American legal system and adopts the principle of prior use, while also taking into account the principle of prior registration;
5. Single category system.
Tonga is a signatory to international intellectual property treaties such as the Paris Convention and the WIPO Convention, and has not yet joined the Madrid Agreement and the Madrid Protocol. Therefore, trademark registration in Tonga can only be obtained through "single country registration".
Starting from the registration date, for those who need to continue using the registration after the expiration of the registration validity period, they should apply for renewal registration 12 months before the expiration of the registration validity period. Each renewal registration is valid for 10 years.
1. Trademark design;
2. Trademark category and specific product items;
3. Applicant's name and address;
4. Power of attorney;
5. If priority is declared, proof of priority must be provided.
1. Formal examination: After the application is submitted, the legality of the submitted application documents, trademark drawings, power of attorney and other documents will be examined. If they meet the requirements, the application date and application number will be granted;
2. Search report: The Internal Cooperation Bureau conducts a search on previously registered or applied Tongan trademarks and issues a search report. The applicant will receive the above-mentioned search report before the trademark is approved for publication and decide whether to arrange for trademark publication;
3. Substantive examination: When examining trademark applications in Tonga, the Internal Cooperation Office only examines their registrability (i.e. distinctiveness), also known as absolute reasons, without examining relative reasons, that is, without citing prior rights to reject the application;
4. Announcement: After examination, the examiner considers that the trademark application can be accepted and will publish an announcement on the official trademark announcement of Tonga. The objection period is 3 months from the date of announcement;
5. Approved registration: Trademarks that have been ruled to be eligible for registration after opposition, or trademarks that have been published without opposition, will be approved for registration and a registration certificate will be issued.
The entire smooth application process (if there are no rejections, objections, etc.) will take approximately 18-24 months.
