A trademark is a distinctive sign, symbol or expression used to identify the products or services of a company from those of another. It guarantees the genuineness of the product of service, and gives its holder the legal rights to avoid their trademark’s unauthorized use.

  • It is the only way of obtaining rights to the trademark.
  • It provides national and/or local protection.
  • It allows to demonstrate ownership of the trademark.
  • It helps to discourage other people from using the trademark unlawfully.
  • Trademarks allow your business to effectively utilize the social media and make your customers find you easily.
  • If anyone uses your registered trademark, he/she will be presumed to be a willful infringer, and registering a trademark confers the ability to recover monetary damages as a result of the infringement.
  • If you don’t register your trademark and someone else registers a trademark very similar to yours, you’ll have to change its name and spend a lot of money changing advertising. It’s also possible that you lose customers.
  • Words
  • Names
  • Devices
  • Certain three-dimensional shapes
  • Colors
  • Slogans
  • Sounds
  • Smells (olfactory trademarks)
  • Trade dress/get-up
  • Holograms

Trademark protection in Guatemala lasts 10 years from the registration date and can be renewed every 10 years. A renewal application must be filed within one year before expiration date.

The approximate time from application to registration (for a prosecution without an opposition) is six to eight months.

An application is published for opposition purposes after formal examination of the application. The opposition period begins the date the single publication takes place in the Boletin Oficial del Registro de la Propiedad Intelectual (BORPI) and ends two months following the date of the single publication.

  • List of goods or services provided.
  • Trademark representation.
  • Power of attorney.
  • Official filing fee.
  • Indication of the mark being applied for as a commercial, industrial or service mark.
  • Location of main place of business.
  • Joint applicants are permitted in Guatemala.
  • Actual use or intent to use are not required for application.
  • Local address for service must be provided if the applicant is not domiciled in this jurisdiction.
  • The list of goods and services may specify a list of the common commercial names for the specific goods or services of interest.
  • In Guatemala, the type of registration available is national.
  • All documents must be translated into Spanish by an official translator. However, the translation can also be certified in Guatemala.
  • All signed documents must be apostilled.
  • Guatemala uses the Nice Classification System.
  • Guatemala is a member of the Paris Convention, the Nice Agreement, the Vienna Agreement and the TRIPS Agreement.
  • Guatemala is not a party to either the Madrid Agreement or the Madrid Protocol and may not be designated in international applications.
  • European Union Trade Mark registration is not effective in Guatemala.
  • Multinational regional registrations are not available in Guatemala.
  • Applications cannot be filed online.
  • The official file can be accessed online.
  • Applications are officially searched as to prior trademarks.

If your trademark has been successfully registered and it is time for you to renew it, you can start the procedure one year before the expiration date. There is a six-month grace period to renew the trademark after the expiration date.

If you do not renew on time, you will need to file a complete new application.

No proof of use is required for renewal. Once renewed, it will be valid for another ten-year period starting from the previous expiration date.

Trademark renewal requirements:

  • Name and address of the applicant.
  • Trademark description.
  • List of goods or services provided.
  • Power of Attorney.
  • Trademark registration number.

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Dealing with foreign associates could be very frustrating. BR is always available to reply my emails and phone calls

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