- North & South America
2. The current trademark regulations in Argentina are mainly based on the Trademark and Markings Law promulgated on December 26, 1980.
3. The Argentine trademark registration adopts the principle of "application first", but in some cases, trademark rights can also be claimed through "prior use".
4. The Argentine Industrial Property Office adopts the Nice Classification 10th edition for the description of goods and services and does not accept multi class applications. The elements that can be registered as trademarks in Argentina include text, name, graphics, three-dimensional identification, color combinations, slogans, sound, smell, dynamic images, etc. Among them, sound, odor, and dynamic images need to meet specific requirements when applying for registration.
Argentina has not yet joined the Madrid Agreement or Madrid Protocol, so trademark registration can only be handled through "single country registration".
The time for successfully registering a trademark in Argentina is about 12 months; The trademark is valid for 10 years from the date of registration and can be renewed continuously. Renewal can be processed 6 months before the expiration date, with a grace period of 6 months.
1. Trademark samples (text, graphics, or combinations);
2. Required Nice classification and product/service items;
3. The applicant is a company and provides its business license; The applicant is an individual and provides their personal ID card;
4. Translation of applicant information document;
5. Application for power of attorney;
6. Embassy authentication, etc;
The examination of trademarks in Argentina is divided into two parts: formal examination and substantive examination.
After the application is submitted, the Argentine Intellectual Property Office will first conduct a formal examination, which mainly examines whether the application documents and classification information comply with regulations. Generally, it takes about 14 days to complete the acceptance. After the formal examination is completed, it will enter the announcement period (30 days from the date of announcement as the announcement objection period), during which any interested party or prior rights holder may raise objections to this application.
If there are no objections or objections are not valid during the announcement period, it will enter the substantive examination section. In the substantive examination stage, the Argentine Intellectual Property Office will examine the distinctiveness of the trademark, whether it violates the prohibition and prohibition regulations, and whether it conflicts with prior trademarks. After passing the examination, it will be approved for registration.
It should be noted that Argentine trademarks adopt a pre announcement approach, which means that they are first announced for third-party opposition before undergoing substantive examination procedures. Therefore, even if the opposition procedure is not problematic, there may still be cases of registration failure.
