知产慧学堂丨马尔代夫商标申请

●中文介绍●

马尔代夫商标申请基础

马尔代夫商标申请主管机构

马尔代夫目前没有商标法，获得商标保护的途径是在马尔代夫有一定影响力的报纸上刊登警示性公告。公告语言可为英语或官方语言的迪维希语，刊登公告可以一标多类的形式进行。

马尔代夫经济发展部负责商标的审查。马尔代夫未加入巴黎公约、马德里协定及其议定书组织。因此只能通过单一国注册的方式申请。

马尔代夫商标申请所需材料

• 申请人名称及地址
• 申请商品或服务项目
• 商标图样
• 申请人身份证明复印件
• 委托书

注： 根据马尔代夫的相关法律规定，任何希望在商业活动中使其商品或者是服务区别于他人的商品或者服务的人，都是可以向马尔代夫经济发展部提出申请注册的商标。

马尔代夫商标申请流程

1.准备商标申请文件并提交申请:商标申请人根据申请材料的要求向马尔代夫经济发展部提交商标申请材料；

2.审查：马尔代夫经济发展部收到商标注册申请材料后进行形式审查和实质审查，形式审查主要审查申请要求和分类信息是否符合规定。实质审查包括对商标显著性、是否违反禁注禁用条款和是否与在先商标形成冲突的审查；

3.公告：经审查认为商标申请可以被接受后，便会在马尔代夫官方商标公告上刊登公告。自公告日起3个月为异议期，在此期间任何第三方利益相关人均可提出异议；

4.注册：经异议被裁定可以注册的商标，或者经公告没有异议的商标将获准注册并下发注册证。

注：a.马尔代夫商标申请大概需要12至14个月。

b.由于没有规范的商标注册及续展制度，马尔代夫商标的有效期是3年，自商标登记之日起开始计算。商标持有人可在一定期限内重新刊登警示公告来实现商标续展目的，推荐的做法是在2-3年内重新刊登。

c.商标保护基于公告在先原则，公告的商标将具有某一领域的唯一性。

d.注册马尔代夫商标需要先到马尔代夫经济发展部办理商标注册，然后在报纸上刊登商标所有权声明才能获得马尔代夫法律的保护。

马尔代夫商标申请注意事项

马尔代夫商标警示性公告

在马尔代夫，人们需要在那些市场流通量非常高的报纸与杂志上公开警示性通告后才能为知识产权提供保护。上述这种警示性通告实际上是用来提示第三方再擅自使用这些标志将有可能面临侵权的指控，或者是停止使用上述标志。

这种警示性通告将会写清楚这到底是商标、版权、外观设计还是专利，该项权利持有人的详细信息以及对于相关知识产权的描述。警示性通告可以用来公开单个类别或者多个类别的知识产权，而根据这种通知获得保护的时间通常需要花上3至4周的时间。公开费用的多少将取决于这种警示性通告的文章长度。

马尔代夫商标注册看似没有有效期的规定，实则仍然有一定的有效期，一般需要每隔2-3年就重新刊登警示性公告。刊登警示性公告的费用主要是根据公告内容所占报纸版面的大小来决定，企业可以根据自身需求和经济实力来选择需要公告的商标信息，以及适当调整重新刊登警示性公告的周期。

马尔代夫商标注册注意事项

1.在先原则，谁先公开宣誓商标所有权则优先获得商标权；

2.要在官方指定报纸进行公告宣誓并保留原件作为主张商标权利的依据。

申请时申请人可以选择是否在官方报纸进行公告以宣誓商标权，若不公告则不需缴纳相应费用，虽可以节约一半的费用，但一旦遇到侵权或维权纠纷则可能无法有效主张自己在先的商标权，影响法院的判决。

同时，在公告制的国家也不会进行相对理由的审查，即：不主动审查是否有在先相同或近似商标并予以驳回，所以只要商标本身没有明显的瑕疵基本上都可以获得有效的保护。

●英文介绍●

Basis of Trademark application in Maldives

Intellectual Property UnitMinistry of Economic Development

The Maldives currently has no trademark law and can obtain trademark protection by placing warning notices in influential Maldivian newspapers. Announcements may be made in English or in the official language of Dhivehi and may be made in one form or in multiple categories.

The Ministry of Economic Development of Maldives is responsible for the examination of trademarks. Maldives has not acceded to the Paris Convention, the Madrid Agreement and its Protocols. Therefore, applications can only be made through a single country registration.

Materials

• Name and address of applicant
• Apply for goods or services
• The samples of the trademarks
• A copy of the applicant's identity certificate
• The power of attorney

Note:According to the relevant laws and regulations of maldives, any person who wishes to distinguish his/her goods or services from those of others in commercial activities can apply for the registration of trademarks with the Ministry of Economic Development of Maldives.

Application Process

1. Prepare the trademark application documents and submit the application: The trademark applicant shall submit the trademark application materials to the Maldives Economic Development Department according to the requirements of the application materials;

2. Review: After receiving the trademark registration application materials, the Maldives Department of Economic Development will conduct formal review and substantive review. The formal review mainly examines whether the application requirements and classified information meet the provisions. Material examination includes examination of trademark distinctiveness, whether it violates the prohibition clause and whether it conflicts with the prior trademark；

3. Announcement: Once the application is considered acceptable, it will be published on the Official Trademark Notice of Maldives. 3 months from the date of announcement is the objection period, during which any third party interested person may raise an objection;

4. Registration: the trademark that has been ruled to be registered after objection, or the trademark that has been announced without objection will be registered and the registration certificate will be issued.

Note: a. Maldivian trademark applications take about 12 to 14 months.

b. Since there is no standardized trademark registration and renewal system, the validity of trademarks in Maldives is 3 years, counting from the date of trademark registration. The trademark holder can republish the warning notice within a certain period of time to achieve the trademark renewal purpose. The recommended practice is to republish the notice within 2-3 years.

c. Trademark protection is based on the principle of first announcement, and the announced trademark will be unique in a certain field.

d. To register a Maldivian trademark, it is necessary to register the trademark at the Economic Development Department of Maldives first, and then publish the trademark ownership statement in the newspaper to obtain the protection of maldivian laws.

Notes on Trademark Application in Maldives

Maldives Trademark Warning notice

In the Maldives, the protection of intellectual property rights requires the publication of warning notices in newspapers and magazines with high market circulation. The above warning notices are actually used to inform third parties that they may face infringement charges for unauthorized use of the marks or to stop using the marks.

The warning notice will specify whether it is a trademark, copyright, design or patent, the details of the rights holder and a description of the intellectual property rights involved. Warning notices can be used to disclose individual or multiple classes of INTELLECTUAL property, and the time to obtain protection under such notices usually takes three to four weeks. The cost of disclosure will depend on the length of the warning.

Maldives trademark registration seems to have no period of validity, but in fact it still has a certain period of validity. Generally, it is necessary to re-publish warning notices every 2-3 years. The cost of publishing the warning announcement is mainly determined by the size of the newspaper space occupied by the content of the announcement. Enterprises can choose the trademark information to be published according to their own needs and economic strength, and appropriately adjust the period of re-publishing the warning announcement.

Notes for Trademark Registration in Maldives

1. The first in line principle: the first to publicly swear the ownership of the trademark shall be the first to obtain the trademark right;

2. Take the oath of announcement in the official designated newspaper and keep the original as the basis for claiming trademark rights.

When applying, the applicant can choose whether to make an announcement in the official newspaper to swear the trademark right. If not, it does not need to pay the corresponding fee. Although half of the fee can be saved, once the infringement or rights protection dispute is met, the applicant may not be able to effectively assert his trademark right before the court, affecting the judgment.

At the same time, in countries with public announcement system, there will be no review of relative reasons, that is, no initiative to examine whether there is a previous same or similar trademark and reject it, so as long as the trademark itself does not have obvious defects, basically it can be effectively protected.