- African
1. Liberia is a coastal country in Africa, located on the Atlantic coastline. It is a developing country and one of the least developed countries in the world. Due to its geographical location, Liberia's economic development level is not high, and most areas are poor and backward. The Liberian government attaches great importance to intellectual property protection and provides a favorable intellectual property legal environment for domestic enterprises.
2. The current trademark law in Liberia came into effect on August 12, 1972. The trademark is managed by the Liberian Intellectual Property Office and the official language is English.
3. The trademark registration in Liberia follows the principle of prior application.
4. The Liberian trademark adopts the Nice classification and accepts multiple types of applications. The elements that can be registered as trademarks include: text, name, graphics, 3D logo, color combination, slogan, sound, etc.
Liberia is a contracting party to international intellectual property treaties such as the Paris Convention, WIPO Convention, and the Bangui Agreement. It is also a contracting party to the African Regional Industrial Property Organization and a member of the Madrid Agreement and Madrid Protocol. Therefore, trademark registration in Liberia can be processed through "single country registration" or "Madrid International Registration".
The validity period is 10 years from the date of application; Renewal can be processed within 6 months before the expiration date, with a grace period of 6 months (with additional fees) and a validity period of 10 years.
If a trademark has not been used for three consecutive years, an application for revocation can be filed.
When transferring, changing, or licensing a trademark, corresponding proof documents and their notarized English translations must also be submitted.
1. Applicant's name and address
2. Goods or services
3. Trademark design
4. Power of attorney, requires notarization and authentication
5. To submit priority, priority proof documents and corresponding English translations are required
Submit the prepared trademark registration application documents to the Liberian Intellectual Property Office (LIPO). Application documents can be submitted through LIPO's website or by mail. When submitting application documents, a certain application fee is also required to be paid.
LIPO will review trademark registration applications, including formal and substantive examinations. Formal review mainly examines whether the application documents are complete and meet the requirements. If the application documents do not meet the requirements, LIPO will require the applicant to supplement materials or modify the application documents. The substantive examination mainly examines whether the trademark has registrability and whether it conflicts with a registered trademark. If the trademark is deemed unregistered, LIPO will issue a rejection notice and inform the applicant that they can file an appeal.
If the trademark passes the examination, LIPO will make a public announcement and give others the opportunity to raise objections. The announcement period usually lasts for 30 days. If someone raises an objection during the announcement period, LIPO will suspend the registration process and notify the applicant to defend themselves. If no one raises an objection or the objection is rejected, the trademark can be officially registered.
After the trademark is successfully registered, the applicant can receive the trademark registration certificate and start using the registration mark.
