The year ending has meant, unfortunately, the last year of activity for many brands in our country in all sectors: consumer, communications, services …. But what will happen to the registration of that mark in the future?, once it consummated the disappearance of the entity will happen with its entire portfolio of trademarks?
The registration of a trademark owner means for operating a monopoly, which allows you to uniquely identify and differentiate competing products or other services offered on the market. The imperative to keep the monopoly on the mark requirement is real and effective use. And this is because the obligation to use responds to practice defensive registrations need to avoid discouraging trademark registration unused.
The Patent and Trademark Office (SPTO) does not cancel marks for lack of use, and should be a third party who initiates the prosecution expiration provided that the trademark has not been used for an uninterrupted period of 5 years.
Therefore, the headline is still the various companies are not required to prove such use over the next five years.
After that period, and since any third party could go to court to order the forfeiture of such marks, companies must define for this one the best strategy to follow or maintain sufficient use of the mark, which will serve to justify compliance with the obligation of use, or may grant a license to a third party to exploit the mark and simultaneously saving his obligation, or even get to request a new brand when they finalize the 5 years to save the lack use and that the time start counting again, but here is a risk that this action is deemed fraudulent.
In fact there is a precedent, which is what happened in the case of car brand Hispano-Suiza, in which a Court indicated that the registration of a trademark the main brand guilty of involvement derivative being in expiration supposed an act in fraud law , who only wanted to avoid the expiration of the distinctive protected by the mark, since the earlier marks would expire, but there would always be a derivative in force.
In conclusion, the problem is that the use made of the mark must be real and effective, which requires the use is made as a trademark, ie consisting of marketing products or services on the market or, to a limited extent, in their advertising, which reaches a certain intensity and of good faith or, as has been said, that the actions of the holder are not directed to create a symbolic or apparent use.
The marketing of products and services for the identification of which a trademark is registered, should be the main act to provide for performance of the obligation of use.
