How to Register a Trademark in Mauritius?

Trademark registration is not mandatory in Mauritius but if you want exclusive rights over your trademark then you should definitely get it registered with the right authorities at the very beginning of your business. It is not necessary that the trademark that you want to be registered has to be in use at the time of registration.

Trademark Registration Process in Mauritius

The trademark registration process or intellectual property registration in Mauritius is pretty straight-forward and should be done the right way in order to protect your intellectual property.

1. Contact the Industrial Property Office in Mauritius for trademark registration.
2. The prescribed application form to register a trademark in Mauritius can be obtained from the Industrial Property Office or if you do not want the hassle to go to the office and stand in a queue for obtaining the application form then you can download the prescribed form.
3. Before you fill out the application and go to the Industrial Property Office for submission, do a thorough search and make sure that your proposed trademark does not conflict with any other registered trademark or some pending application.
4. In the application form, under the heading `representation of trademark` affix an explicit photograph of your proposed trademark and provide three more copies of it with the application.
5. If your trademark is a symbol rather than a word, then it should be clearly depicted so that there are no misrepresentations. In case the symbol has a title then it should also be inserted in the application.
6. If you want to claim priority at the time of submitting the trademark registration application then the application should clearly state-

1. Date and number of the previous application,
2. The state in which this previous application was filed, and
3. Whether this previous application is a provincial application or an international application, the exact office with which this application was filed, and the number of places for which it was filed. Submit an attested copy of the previous application within a period of three months of the date of application.

7. List the goods and services under the applicable class or classes of the Nice Classification for the International Registration of Goods and Services for which you wish to register your proposed trademark.
8. A stipulated fee must also be submitted along with the application so that the process does not take any longer than it normally does. For any two classes, the fee is Rs 3150 and for each additional class, the fee is Rs 1575.
9. If your place of residence or your principal place of business is outside the borders of Mauritius then make sure that you are represented by a legal practitioner who resides as well as practices law in Mauritius.
10. If the word or symbol you want to be trademarked in Mauritius belongs to a foreign language then you must also provide transliteration and/or translation of it along with the mention of the language to which it belongs.
11. A Power of Attorney appointing a legal practitioner or an approved agent must be registered with the Registrar General of Mauritius. This must be filed together with the trademark application or within two months from the date of submission of application.
12. Do not forget to sign the trademark application and also state the date in the space provided in the application form.

Key Aspects of Trademark Registration

Some of the key aspects of trademark registration in Mauritius that you must be aware of are-

• A trademark can be any word, letter, numeral, drawing, picture, label or a combination of any of these.
• Trademark registration bestows upon you the exclusive rights to stop others from promoting identical or similar products with exactly the same or confusingly similar mark.
• Trademark registration is valid for a period of ten years and can be renewed every ten years thereafter upon payment of stipulated fees.
• One application form is enough to cover more than one class of goods and services.
• To conduct a search for the trademark you intend to use, a prescribed fee of Rs 210 can be submitted at the Mauritius Industrial Property Office to begin the search.
• If you are a national or your business is incorporated in Mauritius then you need not be represented by a legal practitioner who resides and practices law in Mauritius.
• Trademark registration in Mauritius is valid only in Mauritius.
• A generic term, descriptive term, deceptive trademark, a mark that is offensive, a mark that is contrary to public order/morality, official hallmarks, flags, emblems of organizations and armorial bearings cannot be registered as a trademark.
• By submitting a declaration for withdrawal of the application, you can withdraw your application up until registration.

If you are starting a business in Mauritius or you already have one and you want help with trademark registration then you can contact us. At Business Setup Worldwide, a team of seasoned experts can help you with trademark registration, company registration and company secretarial services in Mauritius along with many other services to help you in your business adventures in Mauritius.