Registration of a trademark in Costa Rica

By Karol Madrigal López, intellectual property specialist. 

A trademark is a sign that differentiates the products or services of company from the ones produced by another. In Costa Rica, a trademark can only be protected by recording it and, in order to do that, a registration request must be filed before the Industrial Property Register. After the application is filed, the Register will perform an assessment to verify if all legal and procedural requirements are met. Once these verifications are completed, the Register will issue an ad that must be published 3 times in the Official Gazette. Starting from the first publication, third parties will have a 2 month term to oppose if they have a legitimate interest to do so. Once that term has passed and as long as there have been no oppositions, the Register will issue the corresponding trademark certificate. It is important to keep in mind that the registration will be valid for 10 years, during which the use of the trademark is mandatory and exclusive. Upon expiration of said 10 year term, the trademark registration must be renewed.