The current trademark regulations in Honduras are mainly based on the Industrial Property Law, which came into effect on February 28, 2000. The Honduras Intellectual Property Office is responsible for managing trademark affairs and the official language is Spanish. Trademark exclusive rights need to be obtained through registration. Trademark registration is not mandatory, but in order to protect the trademark or renew it, it must be registered in accordance with the law. The trademark registration in Honduras follows the principle of "application first".
Honduras is a party to international intellectual property treaties such as the Trademark Law Treaty, the Paris Convention, and the WIPO Convention. It is neither a member of the Madrid Protocol nor the Madrid Agreement, so trademark registration can only be processed through the "single country registration" method.
At present, trademark applications in Honduras adopt the Nice Classification 11th edition for the description of goods and services, and do not accept applications with multiple categories. The elements that can be registered as trademarks in Honduras include: text, name, graphics, color combinations, slogan, etc.
If the applicant does not reside in Honduras, they need to entrust a specialized agent in their home country to handle it. The basic materials required for trademark application are:
1. Trademark design;
2. Specific categories and product/service items;
3. Name and address of the applicant;
4. Power of attorney;
5.If priority is declared, proof of priority must be provided.
The main process for applying for registration of a trademark in Honduras is: application acceptance examination announcement approval issuance. The application will be accepted 1-2 weeks after submission. The examiner will conduct formal and substantive examinations on the application. Formal review mainly examines whether the application requirements and classification information comply with regulations; The substantive examination includes the examination of the distinctiveness of the trademark, whether it violates the prohibition and prohibition clauses, and whether it conflicts with the prior trademark. If the examination fails, a rejection notice will be issued and the applicant will be required to respond within the time limit specified in the rejection notice. If the substantive examination passes, it will be arranged for public announcement. The announcement will be published in the official newspaper every 10 days, with a 30 working day objection period from the last announcement date. Any interested party or prior rights holder may raise objections, and the main reasons for raising objections are:
1. Conflict with prior trademarks, such as owning a prior registered trademark;
2. The trademark lacks distinctiveness;
3. The trademark has adverse effects;
4. Malicious registration;
5. Conflict with other prior rights, such as trade name rights, design rights, copyrights, personal names, etc.
If there are no objections or objections are not valid during the announcement period, registration can be approved and a registration certificate can be issued. In a smooth situation, trademark registration in Honduras takes about 2 years; If things don't go smoothly and there are objections or rejections along the way, the time will be greatly extended to 3-4 years.
The Honduras trademark is valid for 10 years after registration, starting from the date of registration; Renewal must be processed within 12 months before the expiration date, with a grace period of 6 months; The renewal is valid for 10 years.
The invalidation or revocation application after trademark registration can generally be filed based on the following reasons:
1. Violating relevant laws and regulations; When applying for a trademark, it is known or should have been known that someone else has prior rights;
2.If a trademark is not actually used in that country for three consecutive years after registration, anyone may apply for revocation; Except for force majeure.