A distinctive feature of Georgia is a simple and fast process of registering a trademark, without unnecessary bureaucracy. This is why interested parties from different countries often turn to this service here. For comparison, the registration of a trademark in Russia takes more than 12 months, and if there is a need for explanations from the interested person, it takes about 24 months. Despite the fast process, Georgia provides high-level intellectual property protection both on its territory and abroad.
Just Advisors lawyers have many years of experience in registering trademarks and can easily assist in the submission of the necessary documents. You will be able to use your trademark in business development after ten days!
It can be difficult to complete this task on your own, because the documents must be filled out in Georgian, and it is often necessary to communicate with Sakpatenti employees in person. Our lawyers are citizens of Georgia and are fluent in all the intricacies of local legislation, as well as in Georgian and Russian.
How does intellectual property work in Georgia?
Over the past few years, Georgia has strengthened its position in the field of intellectual property. The American legal organization Property Rights Alliance placed Georgia in 74th place in its ranking, which means that the country has climbed 14 positions since 2017. For comparison, Azerbaijan is in 78th place, Russia – 84, Kazakhstan – 88, Armenia – 95, Ukraine — 110.
Georgia positions itself advantageously on the international market, as it successfully defends its rights to cultural heritage and to the use of geographical names of places of origin of goods. In total, Georgian producers have protected their rights to use trademarks of about 30 local dishes and 20 drinks, such as chacha, suluguni and khachapuri.
In accordance with the law of February 1999, trademarks in Georgia are registered with the Sakpatenti office, which contains all intellectual property data for the country. Sakpatenti also exchanges information with similar foreign authorities through the electronic document management system. This ensures maximum and international protection against plagiarism.
From the date of approval of the application, the validity period of a registered Trademark in Georgia is 10 years. The extension of the validity period for the next 10 years is possible an unlimited number of times.
What are the advantages of registering a Trademark in Georgia?
1. The accelerated processing time is ten business days.
2. You can apply online or through an attorney.
3. There is effective protection of intellectual property rights in court.
Important! Any interested person can apply to Sakpatenti – while citizens and residents of Georgia can do it on their own, other persons – through a trustee or patent attorney who has a Sakpatenti certificate.
What is a Trademark?
A sign or several signs, with the help of visual images of which it is possible to distinguish goods or services of one company from another.
When creating a trademark, you can use: a term, a name or several, proper names, color shades, drawings, numbers.
There are individual and collective trademarks. The latter concept is used if it is necessary to designate the goods or services of members of a particular association.
What objects cannot be used as a Trademark?
Marks, images and designations that are already in use or similar to other Trademarks, or that are generally accepted marks. Before applying for a trademark, be sure to check the Sakpatenti registry and the international registry on the World Intellectual Property Organization website for matches.
What documents are required for registration of a Trademark in Georgia?
- Three images of Trademark in high quality;
- An information carrier (for example, a flash drive) with information about Trademark. For the design of labels, tags, stickers or similar parts, where dimensions are important – you need to provide copies of the technical specification in exact dimensions; to design a 3D picture – you need to provide three images of its two-dimensional projection from different sides in order to get the maximum visual appearance; for registration of an audio sign – you need to provide three sound recordings and a computer version of its visual image (musical notation);
- Notarized power of attorney for an authorized person;
- For registration of collective Trademark – the rules for its use;
- The list of goods and services that will be marked with Trademark (if there are few of them, their names are indicated directly in the application, and if the list is long, then in a separate document).
The interested person submits the entire package of necessary documents along with the application itself, completed in Georgian. When submitting an application electronically, through the Sakpatenti website, the applicant is provided with a 20% discount on the payment of state fees.
What does the procedure for registering a trademark in Georgia consist of?
- Submission of an application in Georgian to Sakpatenti along with a receipt for payment of the state duty. The appeal date is the priority date of the claim. At the initial stage, the application may be rejected due to violation of Georgian legislation on the requirements for paperwork.
- Within two months after the submission of the application, a formal examination is carried out. At this stage, additional documents may be requested, which must be provided immediately, otherwise the Trademark may be refused.
- Within six months, an examination of the application on the merits is carried out. At this stage, a search is underway for relative and absolute grounds for rejecting the application.
- Within one month after the conclusion of the examination and approval of the application, the image is published in a specialized publication.
- Within three months after the publication of the trademark, it is possible to file a claim, appeal against the decision of Sakpatenti and cancel the registration.
If there are no claims or reasons for filing claims, the person concerned receives a notification with the requirement to pay the fees for the registration of the Trademark and for the issuance of the registration certificate. Within three months from the payment of fees, the specified documents are issued.
What is the expedited procedure? All the aforementioned stages are carried out in a short time: the formal examination takes three days, and the substantive examination of the application takes seven days. The process for accepting claims, appealing a decision and issuing a registration certificate remains the same: only after the payment of fees.
What are the state fees for registration of technical assignments and the cost of this service in Just Advisors?
With Just Advisors lawyers – residents of Georgia – registration of a Trademark in Georgia will be cheaper. The state duty discount is 20%.
We offer standard and express check-in services.
Why apply for the service of registration of a Trademark to specialists?
There are serious consequences for violation of the legislation on the use of Trademark in Georgia – an administrative penalty in the form of a fine of 500 lari, which increases for repeated violations, and criminal liability up to imprisonment for a term of two years or more.
Just Advisors lawyers have extensive knowledge in the field of intellectual property and extensive experience in registering Trademarks in Georgia for the purpose of selling goods both within the country and abroad. Within the framework of Georgian and international legislation, our employees carefully monitor the databases for the presence of similar applications with a higher priority. They accompany interested parties in the process of registration of TK from collecting the necessary documents until the receipt of the certificate. If necessary, they provide assistance in filing claims and appealing a decision.
