Romanian Trademark Protection
Trademarks are words or symbols that are susceptible to a graphic representation meant to distinguish the products and services of a natural or legal person from those belonging to others. A trademark can be the key asset of a business, but its registration is facultative. To obtain the protection of a trademark in Romania, an applicant can register it at the national level, at the European Union (“EU”) level, or at the international level.
In Romania, the right over a trademark is acquired and protected under the provisions of Law No. 84/1998 on trademarks or geographic indications (hereinafter referred to as “Law 84”). This law sets forth the necessary conditions to register a trademark and the protections afforded to it, while also containing provisions referring to the international registration of a trademark. In accordance with Law 84, in case a person wants to register a trademark only at the national level, that person obtains protection just in Romania. Before January 2007, it was impossible for Romanian nationals to register a trademark at the European level using a single procedure because Romania was not yet an EU member state. All this has changed with the advent of Romania’s accession to the European Union.
Natural persons or legal entities register their marks in Romania with the Romanian State Office for Inventions and Trademarks (“OSIM”). For a more detailed look into the procedure regarding trademark registration, please see the article “Intellectual Property Protection in Romania” from March 2007, set forth in The Romanian Digest™ Archive at http://www.hr.ro/digest_archive.htm.
In today’s global market, it is obviously quite important for a business with export potential of any sort to obtain the recognition of its right over a trademark in states other than in the one in which i
