Steps to register a trademark in Colombia.

Before being able to talk about the registration of a trademark in Colombia, it is necessary to analyze what are the aspects that every person or company must take into account before submitting a trademark registration application.

1. You must choose the brand you want to use to identify the products or services you want to market in the market.

It must be remembered that in accordance with Article 134 of Decision 486 of 2000, signs composed of:

1. a) the words or combination of words;
2. b) images, figures, symbols, graphics, logos, monograms, portraits, labels, emblems and shields;
3. c) sounds and smells;
4. d) letters and numbers;
5. e) a color delimited by a shape, or a combination of colors;
6. f) the shape of the products, their containers or wrappers;
7. g) any combination of the signs or means indicated in the previous sections.
8. The products and/or services to be sold in the market must be classified based on the Nice International Classification.

This step is extremely important, because in this way the person interested in registering the trademark will be able to know which are the most appropriate categories to register it.

3. Carry out the search of the trademark history through this query, the interested party will be able to know the signs registered in Colombia, in order to know if the trademark of interest is registrable, taking into account that the trademarks must be differentiable from one another. others.

Once the aforementioned numerals have been exhausted, the application for trademark registration is filed with the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce (SIC) which must be filed with the following information and documentation.

• Name and surname of the applicant in the case of natural persons and name of the company in the case of legal persons.
• Address and notification address.
• The name of the sign and whether it is nominative, mixed, figurative, three-dimensional, olfactory or sound.
• The class of the Nice International Classification to which the products or services to be identified belong.
• The products or services that you want to identify.
• Proof of payment of the fee established by the Colombian Patent and Trademark Office
• In cases in which the trademark owner registers through a proxy, the power of attorney granted to the latter must be presented.

Once these requirements have been met, the trademark registration application is filed with the Colombian Patent and Trademark Office and the process to obtain the trademark begins, which consists of 4 stages, which are:

1. Form examination

At this stage, it is analyzed whether the application that was submitted meets the formal requirements imposed by law (Decision 486 of 2000, Articles 138 and 139).

2. Publication and oppositions

This stage seeks to publicize the trademark registration applications that have been filed with the Colombian Patent and Trademark Office so that the holders of distinctive signs or other validly protected intellectual property rights have the possibility to oppose when they feel that the protection of the new trademark may affect theirs.

3. Substantive examination

Through this, the Colombian Patent and Trademark Office carries out the assessment of the signs that have applied for trademark protection and determines through a resolution granting or denying whether or not it complies with the requirements set forth by the Law for a trademark to be protected. can be registered.

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