WHICH SIGNS MAY NOT BE REGISTERED?

A sign may not be registered if it incurred in the following prohibitions:

Legal prohibition

Trademark contrary to public policy or to accepted principles of morality, devoid of any distinctive character, exclusively serves to designate the characteristics of the goods or service, cannot be represented graphically, is of such a nature that it may mislead the public, consists of a shape imposed by the nature of the product, consists a shape necessary to obtain a technical result or which gives a substantial value to the product or service, reproduces or imitates the name, coat of arms, flag, medals or other symbols of countries or intergovernmental organizations.

Relative prohibitions –Existence of an earlier marks.

A previous trademark (similar or identical) may be already registered in the name of a third party. In this case we are liable to opposition as well as judicial injunctions . To avoid such consequences, it’s strongly recommended to perform an anteriority trademark search, relying on specialized and experienced lawyers.

Existence of an unregistered mark or another earlier distinctive sign
More complex searches are available in order to examine previous commercial signs could be enforced to prevent subsequent trademark registrations.