Ecuador (EC)
Latest News: 07-12-2010 (Newsletter Issue 12)
Official Fees Increased
The Ecuadorian Institute of Intellectual Property has increased the official registration fees and opposition fees effective by June 1st, 2010.
The official fee for a trademark application is USD 116.- (approx. EUR 92.-) including the issuance of the title.
There is no longer any requirement to pay for the issuance of the registration title; it will be included in the one-off fee for applications.
The registration fees of three-dimensional trademarks are much higher compared to other trademark registration fees with USD 336.- (approx. EUR 266.-).
Source: www.iloinfo.com
Legal basis is the Industrial Property Law, in force since May 1998, and the Andean Pact Decision no. 486 concerning industrial property.
Ecuador is a member of the Andean Pact. Andean Pact Decision no. 486 contains common rules on Trademark Law in all member states of the Andean Community (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru). The international classification of goods and services consisting of 45 classes has been adopted.
Trademark protection is obtained by registration.
Registrable as a trademark are all distinctive and graphically representable signs, such as words, names, acronyms, letters, numbers, devices, emblems, holograms, colours, combinations or shades of colours, three-dimensional forms, the three-dimensional form of a good or its packaging, trade dress, sound marks and olfactory marks and any combination of the mentioned signs.
The following trademark types are registrable: trade marks, service marks, collective marks, certification marks, trade names and titles of establishment.
The application is filed at the “Instituto Ecuatoriano de Propiedad Industrial (I.E.P.I.)”.
A separate application needs to be filed for each class.
Foreign applicants may file an application through a local agent with a power of attorney attested by a notary and legalised by Apostille.
A power of attorney attested by a notary is necessary.
Foreign applicants do not need a domestic registration.
The application process includes a formal examination, publication in the monthly Industrial Property Gazette, and an examination of distinctiveness among prior trademarks.
The processing time from first filing to registration is approx. 12 months.
The trademark application is published 4 months after the application.
The opposition period is 30 working days from publication date of the application. The period can be extended for another 30 days upon request. Oppositions are also possible by owners of trademarks in other member states of the Andean Pact.
Protection begins with the date of registration. A trademark registration is valid for 10 years from the date of registration. The registration is renewable for periods of 10 years.
If the trademark has not been used for a continuous period of 3 years in at least one member state of the Andean Pact, it will be vulnerable to cancellation.
The official fee for a trademark application is USD 116.- (approx. EUR 92.-) including the issuance of the title.
The official fee for a three-dimensional trademark application is UDS 336.- (approx. EUR 266.-).
| Search type |
First class |
Add. class |
| Word Mark Search (availability) |
230,00 € |
190,00 € |
| Word Mark Search (identical) |
210,00 € |
150,00 € |
| Extended Search (word mark, company name, domain) |
690,00 € |
190,00 € |
| Device Mark Search (availability) |
440,00 € |
310,00 € |
| Trademark Owner Search |
390,00 € |
|
| Company Name Search |
540,00 € |
|
| Domain Name Search (extended) |
|
|
| i-Search (word mark availability + legal opinion) |
480,00 € |
330,00 € |
The Prices above are S.M.D. Markeur Search Fees