- European
2. The Norwegian Industrial Property Office is responsible for managing trademark affairs, and the official language is Norwegian. Trademark exclusive rights require registration and acquisition.
3. Norway, like China, adopts the principle of "application first" for trademark registration, but for trademarks that already have a high level of popularity, trademark rights can also be claimed through "prior use".
4. At present, the Norwegian government adopts the Nice Classification 11th edition of product and service descriptions and accepts applications for multiple categories in one form. The elements that can be registered as trademarks in Norway include: text, name, graphics, three-dimensional identification, color combinations, sound, dynamic images, etc.
5. This year, the Norwegian Intellectual Property Office issued a notice to revise the Trademark Law. The revised Trademark Law stipulates that black and white logo or graphic trademark registration applications (i.e. trademark registration applications without specifying colors) cannot be used in any color combination in actual use.
Norway is a signatory to international intellectual property treaties such as the Paris Convention, the Nice Agreement, and the WIPO Convention, and a member of the Madrid Protocol. Therefore, trademark registration can be handled through either the "single country registration" or the "Madrid International Registration" method.
The validity period of a Norwegian trademark is 10 years, and applications submitted before July 1, 2010 are valid from the date of registration; Applications submitted after July 1, 2010 shall be valid from the date of application;
Renewal can be processed within 12 months before the expiration date, with a grace period of 6 months; The renewal is valid for 10 years.
If the applicant does not reside in Norway, they must entrust a specialized agent in that country to handle it. The basic materials required for trademark application are:
1. Trademark design;
2. Category and product/service items;
3. Name and address of the applicant;
4. Power of attorney;
If priority is declared, priority proof documents and corresponding Norwegian language translations must be provided.
The application will be accepted in about 3 weeks after submission. The examiner will conduct formal and substantive examinations on the application.
Formal examination mainly examines whether the application requirements and classification information comply with regulations, while substantive examination includes examination of the distinctiveness of the trademark, whether it violates the prohibition and prohibition clauses, and whether it conflicts with prior trademarks.
The substantive examination includes the examination of the distinctiveness of the trademark, whether it violates the prohibition and prohibition clauses, and whether it conflicts with the prior trademark. After passing the review, registration can be granted and a registration certificate can be issued;
If the review fails, a rejection notice will be issued and the applicant will be required to respond within the time limit specified in the rejection notice.
After the approval and issuance of the certificate, an announcement will be arranged, and a 3-month objection period will be set from the announcement date. Any interested party or prior rights holder may raise objections.
If there are no objections or objections are not valid during the announcement period, the trademark will be officially registered successfully. In a smooth situation, trademark registration in Norway takes about 6-8 months; If there are any objections or rejections encountered during the process, the time will be extended.
