TRADEMARK OPPOSITION

In order to register a trademark by national route at the Romanian Office for Inventions and Trademarks - SOIT, the following steps are taken:

• Submitting the registration application;
• Formal examination;
• Examination as to substance;
• Trademark publication in the 'Industrial Property' Official Gazette;
• Submitting the opposition;
• Notifying the applicant about the opposition;
• Eventual correspondence developed with the parties involved;
• Eventual correspondence developed with the parties involved;
• The decision of the Opposition Examination Commission;
• Communicating the decision;
• Registering the trademark or rejecting the request.

The Romanian law defines opposition as an administrative means (administrative way of attack) granted to third parties (interested parties), in the moment of the trademark publication (but without surpassing the legal term of 2 months), to whom it is given the possibility of opposing the previous rights gained if it is considered that their personal rights are violated as a result of the trademark registration.

In this manner, the trademark and geographic indication law allows interested persons to justifiably oppose the registration of the specific trademark. The opposition can be done within a 2 months span since the trademark publication in the 'Industrial Property' Official Gazette.

The interested person is viewed by the law both as the titular character of a trademark previously registered and as a person who considers that a right of image or the patronymic name is violated, as the holders of the right of use of some geographic indications protected in Romania, as the titular characters of the registration certificates for the drawings and industrial samples, authors of artistic and literary works, as well as the titular characters of any type of rights for previous industrial property who consider that the registration of a specific trademark violates the rights previously earned.

Important!
The opposition has to be expressed in writing and it is mandatory to cover a legal fee. The State Office for Inventions and Trademarks will notify the applicant of the opposition encountered, the applicant thus receiving a 3 month deadline in which s/he can express his/her point of view in regard to the opposition made.

The opposing procedure is developed thus only in writing, the parties have to put all the defending arguments on paper, in the singular document permitted by law (the opposition statement or the statement of defense), as the counterstatement (statement of defense) is no longer communicated to the opponent so that this person can have the possibility of bringing further arguments.

The oppositions are resolved by an Opposition Examination Commission, part of the Trademark Department of the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks. This commission is made out of three specialists, one of which is the examiner who has put together the examination report for the trademark.

The malevolence motif brought against trademark registration can only be formulated in a court of law, as the examination commission does not have the attribution for this type of opposing motivation. As an exception to this rule, the examination commission is competent to solve oppositions formulated by the title character of a trademark when the registration is requested by the trustee of the title character without the latter's knowledge or approval.

The decision taken by the opposition examination commission can be disputed in 3 months after its communication.

If, according to the report we send you, you find out that an application for an identical or similar trademark has been submitted and you wish to oppose the registration of this specific logo, we can assist you in this process by drawing up the opposition document and submitting it at the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks (SOIT).

The opposition procedure

The opposition can be registered in 2 months' time since the trademark publication and can be formulated by any interested person.

The oppositions have to be formulated in writing and the legal fee has to be paid. At the applicant's request, the title character of the trademark that puts forth the opposition has to submit to SOIT the evidence that:

• in a period of 5 years, prior to the publication of the trademark for which the opposition has been formed, the anterior trademark has been used effectively on the Romanian territory for products and services which were registered under the specific logo; or
• that there are justifiable reasons for neutralizing the trademark which has encountered opposition. SOIT will notify the applicant of the trademark registration request of the opposition met, indicating the name of the person opposing the registration as well as the reasons for this action.

The applicant can express his/her point of view regarding the opposition in 30 days after receiving the notification.

The opposition formulated concerning the registration request for the publicized trademark is solved by a commission inside the Trademark Service of the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks.