One of the amendments of the Polish Industrial Property Law that came in force on March 16, 2019 refers to trademark renewal (more about the amendments see: https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=858e5194-bbd2-4035-89ee-264e350677a8).
Trademark protection right lasts for 10 years from the date of filing of the application to the Polish Patent Office. The protection right may be renewed for next 10 years periods an unlimited number of times. Before the amendment it was necessary to file the renewal motion and pay the renewal fee to renew the trademark. Now, it is enough to pay the fee and no motion is required. This amendment makes the procedure cheaper as the additional fee for motion was deleted.
The payment shall be made by the trademark owner or the person entitled to make a payment. If the payment is made by third person, PPO may call this person to prove that he/she was entitled to make a renewal fee payment.
The title of the payment shall include number of the trademark and information that the payment is the renewal payment. If the client is interested in restriction of lists of goods and services and wants to renew the trademark just for the part of goods or services, it should be noted in the title of transfer or in the separate letter defining the scope of renewal that shall be filed in Polish Patent Office. If Polish Patent Office has any doubts regarding the scope of the renewal, the Office shall call the trademark owner for the explanation. If no explanation is filed or it is unclear, the money will be returned to the payer and the trademark right will expire.
The renewal fee should be paid before the end of the protection period, but not earlier than 12 months before its expiry. The renewal is also possible within six months after the renewal due date by paying the extra fee increased by 30% of the amount due. Additional six-month deadline for paying the fee is non-recoverable. The payment made after this date will be returned to the payer and the trademark right will expire.
The renewal fee is defined in Regulation of the Council of Ministers of 29 August 2001 on fees related to the protection of inventions, designs, utility, industrial designs, trademarks, geographical indications and topography of integrated circuits. It was decreased on 2016 and now the renewal fee is 400 PLN (approx. 100 Euro) per each class.
The trademark renewal will be noted in trademark register and published in Polish Patent Office News (Wiadmości Urzędu Patentowego WUP). Polish Patent Office will not issue any renewal decision or any other document confirming trademark renewal.
The new thing is that Polish Patent Office shall inform the trademark owner or its represntative about approching trademark expiry date not later than six month before the trademark exoiration date. It shall be notice that it is not the Office obligation. Failure to receive the above information does not affect the rating possible failure to pay the fee for a next period of protection.
