If you want to use the trademark overseas
pine patent
July 30, 2024
Just as you need to register a trademark under Korean trademark law to protect your brand and trademark in Korea, you must register it separately under the respective country's trademark laws if you want to protect your brand and trademark abroad. This follows the principle of territoriality.
Since trademark laws differ from country to country, the methods of trademark application vary. However, overseas trademark applications and registrations can be broadly categorized as follows:
This method involves directly filing applications in each country where trademark protection is sought. Through claiming priority based on the Paris Convention, applications are filed directly in each country following their respective trademark law procedures.
For countries that are members of the Madrid Agreement, instead of filing separate trademark applications in each country, you can submit a single international application to the home country’s office, achieving simultaneous trademark application effects in multiple countries. As of February 2022, there are 125 countries that are members of the Madrid Protocol.
For the three Benelux countries (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg), trademark registration through the Benelux Patent Office provides trademark protection in all three countries simultaneously without separate national registrations.
OAPI is an intergovernmental organization consisting of 17 African member states, including Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Chad, and Togo. Companies seeking brand protection across these 17 African member states can achieve this through a single trademark registration with OAPI.
Through the EUTM system managed by EUIPO, you can secure a single unified trademark right. A single application filed with the EUIPO grants trademark protection in all European Union member countries.
ARIPO is an international organization consisting of English-speaking African countries, handling patents, utility models, and designs based on the Harare Protocol (1982) and trademarks based on the Banjul Protocol (1993). Member countries include Botswana, Cape Verde, Eswatini, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Among these, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, and Zambia have not acceded to the Banjul Protocol, and Mauritius and Somalia have not acceded to the Harare Protocol. ARIPO allows for a collective application across the listed African countries.
Even if you already have a trademark registration and trademark rights in Korea, you need to apply for separate trademark registrations in each country where you wish to use the trademark.
To register a trademark in your desired foreign countries, you can contact each country’s patent office. However, Fine Patent Law Office, which has established a close network system with local patent offices in over 50 major countries, can provide quick and accurate overseas trademark application services.
What is needed for trademark application in the U.S.? Curious about the required documents for U.S. trademark application? Click here
Want to know if your trademark can be registered in the U.S.? Curious about the U.S. trademark search method? Click here.
