Bosnia and Herzegovina is a member of the Madrid Protocol since January 27, 2009. The structure of the Institute for Intellectual Property of Bosnia and Herzegovina is regulated by the Regulations Concerning the Internal Organization of the Institute for Intellectual Property of Bosnia and Herzegovina on November 4, 2009 (website of the Trademark Office of Bosnia). Trademark protection is obtained by trademark registration, Bosnia is a first-to-file country.
Trademark registration Bosnia: Requirements and Application
Registrable trademarks: words, names, acronyms, letters, combinations of colors, numbers, logos, the 3D form of a good or its packaging and any combination of the mentioned signs. A Trademark Application form is available in 3 official languages of Bosnia on the website of the Trademark Office, however, the application is not available in English. It should be filled by your local attorney, which can be, by all means, our professional and reliable trademark attorney in Bosnia. Hiring a representative is not prescribed by the Law, however, all the communication with the Office will be in the local languages of Bosnia.
An applicant must submit a completed request for the grant of a trademark, along with the required documents, and a proof that the official fees have been paid. The application is filed in the written form, directly or through the post, by telefax or at the official email of the Institute, provided that within eight days of its receipt it is provided to the Institute in writing.
An application for an individual trademark must include:
- Request for the grant of only one trademark that relates to one or several kinds of products/services (Form Z-01)
- The trademark itself
- Sign that the applicant wishes to protect by a trademark.
- List of products/services to which the sign relates, which must be made according to the Nice Classification
Our attorney will fill out the forms for you, therefore, we will require a duly signed Power of Attorney, the name of the applicant, the address of the applicant and the list of products or services to which the brand will be applied to. The registration process takes from 1 to 2 years, depending on the backlog of the trademark office.
Registration process in Bosnia
The registration process includes the following:
1. Filing an application;
2. Formal examination of the application;
3. Publication of the trademark application in the Official Gazette of the Institute;
4. Issuing a trademark certificate along with the decision to register a trademark;
5. Publication of the registered trademark in the Official Gazette.
As you see, the Trademark Office of Bosnia does not conduct a search for prior trademarks.
Free Trademark Search in Bosnia
You can request a free basic trademark search on our website. Also, you can access the Trademark Database of Bosnia in this link, the database currently includes around 24000 trademark applications. The database is frequently updated and you can rely on the information you get from the website. However, we recommend ordering a trademark study as this will allow you to check the probability of registration of your trademark in Bosnia, calculated by an experienced attorney.
Our professional trademark attorney in Bosnia will prepare and file your trademark for registration in the country. When you register your trade mark, you’ll be able to:
1. Take legal action against anyone who uses your brand without your permission, including counterfeiters
2. Put the ® symbol next to your brand - to show that it’s yours and warn others against using it
3. Sell and license your brand
We offer the following services in Bosnia:
- Trademark Search (wordmark only)
- Trademark Registration
- Trademark renewal
- Trademark opposition
- Defenses in case of oppositions or objections/office actions in Bosnia
- Trademark assignment
- Change of name/Change of Address
If you are interested in any of these services, please do not hesitate to contact us.