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Zivko Mijatovic & Partners
PRACTICE AREAS

IP Requirements by Country

What each office actually asks for — documents, deadlines, formalities and terms of protection for trademarks, patents and industrial designs, jurisdiction by jurisdiction.

Jurisdictions15 published
Rights coveredTrademarks · Patents · Industrial Designs · Utility Models

Formal requirements, documents and terms for each right. Open a topic for the detail; the information is indicative and we will confirm it for your specific case.

01 Filing the Application – Requirements
  • Name and Address of the Applicant;
  • Representation of the Mark;
  • List of Goods and Services according to the latest edition (12th) of the Nice Classification in force (Classes 1-45);
  • Description of the trademark when it is different from a verbal trademark;
  • Priority date, country and number, if there any. The priority document can be submitted subsequently within three months from the filing date of the trademark application;
  • Power of Attorney signed and sealed/stamped by the applicant. If the applicant has no seal/stamp, the Power of Attorney should be notarized before a public notary. Power of Attorney can be submitted subsequently within three months from the notification date of the Albanian General Directorate of Industrial Property that there are missing documents. This deadline can be further extended up to two other additional months upon the payment of the corresponding official fee;
  • Official payment receipt;
  • Regulations of use of the trademark in case of collective and certification trademarks. Regulations of use can be submitted subsequently within three months from the filing date of the trademark application.
02 Registration Procedure
  • The Application is filed with and examined by the Albanian General Directorate of Industrial Property (Office), which initially issues the trademark filing certificate where the basic requirements (identity of the applicant, trademark representation, list of goods and services, and payment receipt) are met;
  • The Office examines the formalities of the application. If all the formalities are met, the Office examines Absolute Grounds only;
  • If the trademark is found registrable based on absolute grounds, the Office proceeds with its publication in the IP Bulletin. IP Bulletins are published on the official webpage of the Office;
  • The publication period is 3-months, and it starts from the publication date. Third parties claiming priority rights over the sign can file an opposition to the Chamber of Oppositions of the Office. The decisions of the Chamber of Opposition can be filed to the Board of Appeals within 1 month from the receiving date of the decision and the decision of the Board of Appeals can be eventually appealed to the Administrative Court of First Instance of Tirana;
  • In no opposition is filed within the 3-months publication period, the Office issues an invitation for the payment of the official registration fee within 1 month following the receiving date of the invitation;
  • Upon payment of the official fee, the Office grants the registration certificate in electronic format only;
  • The registration procedure takes approximately 6-9 months as from the application date. The Decisions on grant are published in the IP Bulletin of the Office. The Decisions on refusal can be appealed to the Chamber of Invalidation/Revocation within 1 month from the receipt of the refusal notification and eventually to the Board of Appeals within 1 month from the receipt of the refusal decision of the Chamber of Invalidation/Revocation.
03 Duration
  • Upon payment of the registration fee, the trademark is valid for 10 years as from the filing date;
  • The registration can be renewed endlessly for further periods of 10 years;
  • The registration of a trademark may be renewed for all or a part of the goods & services at the request of the proprietor, subject to payment of the renewal fee;
  • Renewal can be filed one year before the expiration date. If the renewal fee is not paid within the renewal date, it can be paid within a grace period of six months after the renewal date, upon payment of an additional fee of 50% (i.e., Albanian Lek 4000) of the basic renewal fee;
  • Power of Attorney signed and sealed/stamped by the applicant. If the applicant has no seal/stamp, the Power of Attorney should be notarized before a public notary. Power of Attorney can be submitted subsequently within two months from the notification date of the Albanian General Directorate of Industrial Property that there are missing documents. This deadline can be further extended up to two other additional months upon the payment of the corresponding official fee.

*If the trademark renewal application is filed by the registered representative of the trademark, a scan copy of the Power of Attorney is sufficient.

04 Recording changes in the Register

Assignment of rights Requirements

  • The Power of Attorney signed and sealed/stamped by the Assignor or the Assignee. If the applicant has no seal/stamp, the Power of Attorney should be notarized before a public notary;
  • Official payment receipt;
  • Supporting document for the recordal of change of ownership
  1. Assignment document – signed by the Assignor and the Assignee and duly notarized by Notary Public attesting the signature of the signatories and their capacity to sign the document on behalf of the parties. Or
  2. In case of mergers, the commercial extract of the company issued by the competent authority for trade companies that expressly evidences the recordal of change from the previous to the new trademark owner. Or
  3. In case of change of legal form of the company, the commercial extract of the company issued by the competent authority for trade companies that expressly evidences this recordal of change.

The supporting documents to the application can be submitted subsequently within two months from the notification by the Office that there are missing documents. This deadline can be further extended up to two other additional months upon the payment of the corresponding official fee.

Change of Name Requirements

  • Power of Attorney indicating the new name, which should be signed and sealed/stamped. If the applicant has no seal/stamp, the Power of Attorney should be notarized before a public notary;
  • Official payment receipt;
  • The document that expressly evidences the change of name from the previous name to the new name or the commercial extract of the company issued by the competent authority for trade companies that expressly evidences the recordal of change the previous to the new trademark owner’s name;
  • The supporting documents to the application can be submitted subsequently within two months from the notification by the Office that there are missing documents. This deadline can be further extended up to two other additional months upon the payment of the corresponding official fee.

Change of Address Requirements

  • Power of Attorney indicating the new address, which should be signed and sealed/stamped. If the applicant has no seal/stamp, the Power of Attorney should be notarized before a public notary;
  • Official payment receipt;
  • The supporting documents to the application can be submitted subsequently within two months from the notification by the Office that there are missing documents. This deadline can be further extended up to two other additional months upon the payment of the corresponding official fee.

Registration of the Licensing Agreement Requirements

  • The Power of Attorney signed and sealed/stamped by the Licensor and/or Licensee. If the applicant has no seal/stamp, the Power of Attorney should be notarized before a public notary;
  • Official payment receipt;
  • The license Agreement – should be in a written form, signed by the two parties and duly notarized before a public notary attesting the signature of the signatories and their capacity to sign the document on behalf of the parties. The license agreement shall necessarily include: the duration, the manner that the licensee should use the trademark, the territory, the list of goods and services, the quality of goods and services, the obligations imposed to the licensee by the licensor and the form of the license: exclusive or non-exclusive.

The supporting documents to the application can be submitted subsequently within two months from the notification by the Office that there are missing documents. This deadline can be further extended up to two other additional months upon the payment of the corresponding official fee.

This text is for informational purposes only and should not be considered as legal advice. Should you require any additional information, feel free to contact us.

Please note

Requirements change as national laws and office practice are amended. We review these pages periodically, but before you instruct a filing we recommend confirming the current formalities with the responsible attorney — particularly notarisation, legalisation and translation requirements, which are the most common cause of delay.

Filing in more than one country?

Send us the mark, the invention or the design and the markets that matter. We come back with one plan — documents to collect, deadlines and costs per jurisdiction.

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