Trade and Service Marks

Legal Basis

– Industrial Property Law of June 30, 2000 (uniform text of June 22, 2023).
– Regulation of the Prime Minister of December 8, 2016 on filing and processing trademark applications.

– Madrid Agreement for the Repression of False or Deceptive Indications of Source on Goods, Hague Act 1925, since December 10, 1928.
– Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, Stockholm Act.
– Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), since March 23, 1975.
– Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks, since March 18, 1991.
– WTO’s TRIPS Agreement, since July 1, 1995.
– Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks, since March 4, 1997.
– Nice Agreement Concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services, since March 4, 1997.
– Vienna Agreement Establishing an International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks, since March 4, 1997.
– European Union Trade Mark Regulation.
– The Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents (Apostille), since August 14, 2005.
– Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks, since July 2, 2009.

Applicant (who may be): any person or legal entity (a firm or business) engaged in industrial or commercial activity.

Foreigners and nationals not living in the country: have the same rights as Polish private persons or legal entities on the basis of international agreements or reciprocity.

Trademarks of foreigners: can be registered in Poland without proof of registration of the mark in the home country.

Kinds of protection: words, designs, ornaments, combination of colors, three-dimensional shape of goods or their packaging, phonetic signals, or composition of these elements.

Novelty: as to form and whether already registered in Poland for goods of the same kind or excluded from registration.

Not registrable: marks which are not sufficiently distinctive or which could mislead buyers as to the origin of the goods; geographical indications; marks contrary to law or morals; marks which infringe somebody’s personal or material rights; marks filed in bad faith; marks including untruthful data; marks consisting of symbols of Poland, emblems, national colors or national anthem, signs of military forces, quality and safety marks, reproductions of the Polish orders, decorations of honor or the like; arms, flags or emblems of the member States of the Union for protection of industrial property, Olympic sign unless allowed, names and acronyms or emblems of international organizations; official control and warranty designations and stamps; the name of plant varieties registered in the records or in the list of cultivable plant varieties; marks deceptively similar to well-known marks. 

Names or portraits: not registrable if the mark infringes upon the rights of the person portrayed i.e. name, firm or effigy.

Association marks: possible in the form of collective trademarks filed by associations. Associations, i.e. legal entities engaged in industry, whether or not they have a business for the manufacture or sale of goods, may apply for the registration of collective marks, or collective guarantee marks, to be used by their members for distinguishing their products. Besides the requirements for the registration of an ordinary mark, a certified copy of the rules of the association must be furnished, stating the purposes, the names of the members, the conditions of use of the mark, and who represents the association.

Priority: within six months of the first legal application for registration abroad.

Classification: international classes 1 to 45.

Multi-class applications: possible.

Territory covered: Poland.

Filing requirements for an application (to be sent to resident agent):
1. Power of attorney (not legalized);
2. 1 print (not for word marks); size: min. 8 x 8 cm, max. 10 x 10 cm;
3. List of goods and/or services;
4. Priority document (with a certified translation if not in English, French or German).

Note: a general power of attorney is accepted; the power of attorney may be filed later on. The priority document can be filed within a period of three months from the filing date.

For a change of name or address: any official document that proves the change e.g. an extract from the Commercial Register (original or a notarized copy).

For applications filed on or after April 15, 2016:

Amendment of application: possible in relation to the list of goods and services.

Observations: details relating to the new trademark application filed at the Polish Patent Office are disclosed in the official database within two months from the application date. Any person may submit to the Polish Patent Office their observations. Observations may be based upon absolute grounds or on bad faith only. Observations do not start any proceedings nor bind the Office.

Examination: as to absolute grounds only.

Disclaimers: available. 

Letters of consent: are accepted (only in relation to trademarks applied for between December 1, 2015 and April 15, 2016).  

Opposition: may be filed within three months from publication in the Bulletin “Biuletyn Urzedu Patentowego”. The opposition may be based only on relative grounds, i.e. earlier rights.

Disputes about ownership: are settled in civil proceedings held at the court.  

Application kept secret: not provided for.  

Appeal: within two months, the applicant may file a request to reconsider the case. If granting of the registration has been refused, the applicant may lodge a complaint to the Vojevodship Administrative Court in Warsaw within thirty days from the date of receipt of this decision.

Urgent registration: not provided for.

Provisional registration: not foreseen by the law.

Publication: the application is published in the Bulletin “Biuletyn Urzedu Patentowego”; the decision of the Polish Patent Office on granting of the right to protection is published in the Official Journal “Wiadomosci Urzedu Patentowego”.

Correction of registration: changes to a registered trademark are not allowed. Only restriction of the list of goods is acceptable.

Delivery of document: usually six months after granting. The certificate of grant is issued in paper or electronic format.

Beginning of protection: from the date of application.

Kind of property: exclusive right.

Duration – extension: for ten years from the date of application and renewable for further periods of ten years.

Compulsory character of registration: only the government can prohibit the introduction into the market of certain goods until they are provided with a trademark, registered in conformity with the law.

Obligation to use: obligatory within five years from the registration date.

Proof of use for renewal: not required.

Renewal: before the tenth anniversary of the date of application, for a further period of ten years.

Term of grace for renewal: six months with a surcharge of 30%.

Modification of the mark: not possible.

Changes in the list of goods: possible, upon request, with subsequent cancellation in the Register of trademarks and publication in the Official Patent Journal.

Marking of registered goods: optional.

Text of marking: “Reg. No. …”, or the symbol “®”.

License: recordal of a license in the Register of trademarks is optional but all licenses should be recorded in the Register of trademarks if they are to be used by third parties and in the case of non-use by the proprietor.

Assignment: any mark may be assigned or transferred to another person by written agreement, followed by inscription in the Register of trademarks with no limitation. Partial assignment is also possible.

Right of prior user: anyone who before filing an application for the registration of a trademark, used it in good faith, may continue using the trademark in the same scope. On the request of an interested person, this right can be entered in the Register.

Right of the owner of a well-known mark: prevents the registration of trademarks which could mislead the public owing to their similarity to the unregistered but well-known trademark used by the owner of such a well-known mark in his business for goods of the same kind.

Cancellation of registered trademarks: any interested person may ask for cancellation of a trademark within five years from the date of its registration, except trademark registrations obtained in bad faith which can be cancelled even after five years.

Grounds for cancellation: when a trademark does not comply with the law or is misleading or deceptively similar to prior trademark registrations or to well-known marks, or has been filed in a bad faith. A trademark can be cancelled at any time if it is not used during a period of five consecutive years.

Infringement: legal action against the infringer of trademark rights is possible within a three-year time limit from each act of infringement, with request for indemnity, penalties or penal prosecution.

Validation and restoration of a mark: not provided for.

Registration of expired mark: possible.

Applicant: the owner of an EUTM application or registration, the holder of the international registration designating the EU.

Filing requirements for the conversion into a national application in Poland:
1. Power of attorney establishing a local agent to represent the owner;
2. Polish translation of the conversion request and all attachments;
3. List of goods and/or services.

Time limit: three months from the date of receipt of the official notification requesting payment of the fee, filing of the translation and the list of goods and/or services.