TRADEMARK

Every firm must defend its own image and make its products and services known.

The trademark is the legal instrument that makes it possible to achieve these objectives, being made up of any sign represented graphically - including personal names, designs, letters, numbers, sounds, combinations or shades of colour - as long as it is suitable to distinguish the goods or services of one company from those of another.

The trademark is valid 10 years from the date of the application and may be renewed for ten-year periods.

Requirements for registering a trademark:

• Novelty:
  The trademark must not be identical or similar to any mark already known as a trademark or logo of products or services manufactured, marketed or provided by others for identical or similar goods or services, if the identity or similarity between the signs and the identity or similarity of the goods or services is likely to create a risk of confusion for the public, or if it may lead to a risk of associating the two signs.
• Distinguishing capacity:
  The trademark must not consist exclusively of a sign that has become commonly used in the current language or in the common practices of the trade, and it must not consist exclusively of a generic name of the product or service or of a descriptive indication to which it refers, as for example the signs that may serve in the trade to designate the kind, quality, quantity, intended purpose, value, geographical origin or the time of production of goods or services or other characteristics of the good or service.

Propria provides a complete assistance and advice to protect your trademark by implementing the following processes:

• Filing and follow-up of trademark applications in Italy;
• Filing and follow-up of trademark applications in the European Community;
• Filing and follow-up of international trademark applications (Madrid Agreement/Protocol);
• Filing and follow-up of trademark applications in foreign countries;
• Management of the trademark portfolio.