Cambodian law protects trademarks, service marks, collective marks and trade names. It defines trademarks as visible signs capable of distinguishing the goods or services of an enterprise. It means that sounds, tastes, smells or other non-visible elements could not be registered as trademarks under Cambodian law. Even though Cambodian law does not mention 3D trademarks, it is still possible to register three dimensional trade marks in Cambodia as long as they meet the requirement of distinctiveness.
REQUIRED INFORMATION:
- Full name, address and nationality of the applicant;
- Description of the trademark: meaning, colors claimed, translation or transliteration of characters into English if the mark contains foreign characters;
- List of goods/services to be covered by the trademark and if possible, the class(es) of the respective goods/services according to the International Classification;
- Country, application number and filing date of the original foreign application from which the priority is claimed (if a priority is claimed).
REQUIRED DOCUMENTS
- A notarized Power of Attorney from the applicant (A copy of notarized Power of Attorney is required at the time of filing trademark application, the original one can be submitted within one month from the filing date without any arising fees);
- 20 specimens of the mark (the size of each specimen is not smaller than 15mm x 15mm and not larger than 80mm x 80mm);
- Certified copy of documents for claiming priority and English translation thereof (if any).
GENERAL INFORMATION:
- A trademark application can cover more than one class of goods or services as per the international classifications.
- It usually takes 8-10 months from the filing date to obtain a Trademark Registration Certificate in Cambodia. However, due to current workload at Intellectual Property of Department of Cambodia, the time is usually prolonged.
- The term of trademark protection in Cambodia is 10 years from the filing date. The registered mark is renewable for unlimited times, each of 10 years.
- The trademark owner will be obliged to use the trademark in Cambodia. At the end of each period of 5 years from the registration date, an Affidavit of Use/Non-Use is required to be lodged with the Cambodian Trademark Office. If no Affidavit of Use/Non-Use is lodged, the trademark will be vulnerable to cancellation at a third party’s request.
