Extension of Protection Right for Trademark
Protection right for the national trademark lasts 10 years. If the protection right holder wants the protection of his trademark to continue, he has to prolong it for subsequent 10-year period. Before March 16th, 2019, in order to do that it was required to file in the Polish Patent Office an application for extension and pay that application. Currently, due to implementation of the Directive (EU) 2015/2436 of the European Parliament and the Council of 16 December 2015 to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to trade marks, only making the payment is enough – filing an application is not necessary any more.
The payment should be made to the Polish Patent Office before the end of the protection term, but not earlier than one year before. There is also a possibility to extend the protection after the lapse of the protection term – within 6 months. However, in such situation it is more expensive – the fee should be increased by 30%. After ineffective expiry of that term, the trademark protection ceases irrevocably.
Only deferred payment in the correct amount results in the extension of the protection right for next 10 years. Any deficiency in that scope, which is not found and rectified in the deadlines mentioned above, causes loss of the trademark protection right. In such situation, it will be necessary to file a new application for trademark registration. It may appear to be ineffective if earlier anyone file an application for protection of the same or similar trademark.
