What Are Trade Marks?
Trade marks are signs that distinguish the goods or services of one business from those of other businesses.
Before using a trade mark you should check the Register of Trade Marks to ensure that no one else has registered a mark which is the same or similar to yours for use with the same or similar goods and services.
Care should also be taken to ensure that your mark is not the same or similar to the name of a business or corporate entity which trades in goods or services that are of the same type or similar to those on which you plan to use your mark.
Manual searches of the Business Names, Companies and Trade Mark Registers may be conducted at costs ranging from $2.00 to $5.00.
National protection:
Registration of a trade mark in St. Vincent and the Grenadines only gives it protection within the jurisdiction of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Local registration would nonetheless be useful abroad as evidence of your mark's reputation in support of an action for passing off. Ideally, however, you should register your mark in every country where you will be using it.
Use of designations:
While trade mark registration is certainly a wise course of action it is not compulsory. It is however important to note, that although the designation "TM" can also be used with an unregistered trade mark, the designation ® may only be used in relation to a mark registered in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Where an unregistered trade mark is represented to be locally registered, the person who has applied that mark is liable to a fine of $10,000.00.
Remember ...
A registered trade mark:
- helps to create brand identity for your products and services
- fosters customer loyalty
- facilitates expansion of business through the licensing of rights
- enables a swift response to unfair competition
Considering all these benefits
Trademark Application
TMclass
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines join TMclass:
On the 21st June 2021, the Commerce and Intellectual Property Office of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (CIPO-VC) joined TMclass. CIPO-VC will use and accept the list of terms from the harmonised database of goods and services (HDB) in TMclass.
Following CIPO-VC’s decision to use the HDB there are now 15 IP offices outside the EU, which use and accept terms from this database.
The inclusion CIPO-VC in TMclass brings the total number of participating national and regional IP Offices, including ARIPO, OAPI, WIPO and EUIPO, to 84.
TMclass offers users the opportunity to search for and translate goods and services to and from any of the 44 languages available as well as verifying the terms’ correct classification under the Nice classification.
The incorporation in TMclass and the adoption of the HDB by CIPO-VC are concrete results of the CARIFORUM Intellectual Property and Innovation Project funded under the 11th European Development Fund and implemented by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO).
You can find out more at tmdn.org and euipo.europa.eu/ec2 and internationalipcooperation.eu/en/caripi
Caribbean TM CLASS
https://caribbean-tmclass.euipo.europa.eu/ec2/
Manual on Descriptiveness of Marks in Absolute Grounds in (selected) CARIFORUM IP Offices
You can find out more on the manual here →
