TRADEMARK

A trademark is a legal tool that provides protection for signs used to identify products or services.

Eligible signs for protection include: words, letters, numbers, word combinations; images (logos), two- or three-dimensional shapes; position marks; patterns; colours or colour combinations; sounds; motion marks; multimedia marks (containing both motion and sound); holograms; or combinations of these.

A trademark can be protected if it uniquely identifies a product or service and distinguishes it from competitors' offerings.

The trademark owner enjoys exclusive rights to its use and can grant permission for others to use the mark.

Trademark protection is valid for 10 years from the date of filing and can be renewed indefinitely in further ten-year periods.