LOYAL PARTNERS is competent to offer representation services and assistance for the submission of the European trademark application valid in all the member states of the European Union in all procedures regarding the examination of the trademark application, publication, in the opposition procedures and appeals, cancellation or forfeiture of the rights holder European brand. Also, the European trademark lawyers and advisers from LOYAL PARTNERS with the right of representation before the European Union Intellectual Property Office offer services in the procedures regarding the transfer of rights to European trademarks, reinstatement of rights and changes in the legal status of the trademark.

A trademark is a sign susceptible of graphical representation serving to differentiate the products or the services of a natural person or legal entity from those of other persons; distinctive signs, as: words, including names of persons, drawings, letters, ciphers, figurative elements, tridimensional signs, and, in particular, the shape of the manufacturer or its package, color combinations, as well as any other combination of these signs, may be considered trademark.

LOYAL PARTNERS is a specialized company for assistance and representation services in the procedures regarding the national protection of the trademarks in all member states of the Paris Convention.

A registered trademark can be canceled if, within a continuous period of five years, the mark has not been put to genuine use on the national territory in connection with the goods or services in respect of which it is registered, and there are no proper reasons for non-use. A registered trademark can be canceled as well whether the trademark was registered with infringement of the earlier intellectual property rights.

The trademark registration shall be in force a ten years period from the date of the regular national filing.
The trademark registration can be renewed at the end of each ten-year period of protection under the payment of the prescribed fee condition.

The trademark rights may be assigned independently of the business transfer whom the trademark is incorporated. Assignment shall be performed in writing and signed by the contract parties under the nullity penalty.

The trademark rights assignment may be performed for all or part of the goods or services for which the trademark is registered;

The owner’s estate transfer shall include transfer of the trademark rights. The transfer of certain elements of the owner’s estate shall not affect his capacity as owner of the trademark rights.

Identical or similar marks belonging to the same owner that are used for identical or similar goods or services may be assigned only as a whole and only to one person, under the nullity penalty of the assignment instrument .

The request for assignment filling shall be accompanied by the document attesting the change of the trademark’s owner.

At the request of the concerned person and the payment fee prescribed, the National Trademark Office shall enter the assignment in the National Trademark Register and publish it in the Industrial Property Official Bulletin. Assignment may be invoked against third parties from the date of its entry in the Register.

The trademark’s owner may, under a licensing contract, authorize other persons to use the trademark on the whole or a part of the territory of Romania for all or a part of the goods or services for which the trademark was registered. So, a license may be exclusive or non-exclusive.

During the term of the licensing contract, the licensee shall be required:

(a) To use the trademark only for associated goods.

(b) To add the indication “under license …” to the trademark associated with the products that are the subject matter of the license, in accordance with the contract.

The license contract shall be registered in the National Trademark Register after the prescribed fee payment and shall be published in the Industrial Property Official Bulletin. The license may be invoked against others as from the date of this registration.

The trademarks owner is entitled to request to the competent court to prohibit any person to use the trademark in force without the owner consent the following:

(a) any sign which is identical with the trademark, in respect of goods or services which are identical with those for which the trademark is registered;

(b) any sign where, because of its identity with or similarity to the trademark and because of the identity or similarity of the goods or services on which the sign is affixed, there exists a likelihood of confusion on the part of the public, including the likelihood of association between the sign and the trademark;

(c) any sign which is identical with or similar to the trademark, in respect of goods or services which are not similar to those for which the trademark is registered, where the latter has a reputation in Romania and where use of that sign without due cause could take unfair advantage of the distinctive character or the reputation of the trademark.

(3) In application of paragraph (2), the owner of the trademark may request that third parties should be prohibited from performing, in particular, the following acts:

(a) affixing the sign to the goods or to the packaging thereof;

(b) offering the goods, putting them on the market or stocking them for such purposes under that sign, or offering or supplying services there under;

(c) putting the goods under that sign into free circulation, exporting, importing or placing them under suspensive or economic customs procedure or under another customs procedure, as defined in customs regulations;

(d) using the sign on business papers and in advertising.

The applicant for trademark registration may only request the prohibition referred above after publication of the trademark.

The applicant may claim damages for the acts referred above subsequently to trademark publication, under the civil law.

A decision ordering payment of damages shall be enforceable only as from the date of trademark registration.

If the application for registration is refused, the applicant shall not be entitled to damages.

The performance of any above act by a person not having the consent of the owner of the registered mark shall constitute an infringement.

None of the acts referred to shall constitute an infringement if carried out prior to the date of publication of the mark.

The owner of a mark may institute infringement proceedings only after the date on which the mark was entered in the National Trademark Register.

Proceedings shall be instituted on a prior complaint by the injured party.

Any use of marks or geographical indications contrary to honest practice in industrial or commercial activities, with an attempt to mislead consumers, shall constitute an act of unfair competition. Criminal proceedings shall be instituted on a prior complaint by the injured party.