Nice classification

Registrable as a trademark are all distinctive and graphically representable signs, such as words, names, acronyms, letters, numbers, devices, emblems, holograms, colours, three-dimensional forms, the three-dimensional form of a good or its packaging and any combination of the mentioned signs. Sound marks and olfactory marks are not registrable.
The following trademark types are registrable: trade marks, service marks, collective marks, certification marks, titles of establishment and trade names.

The application is filed at the Patent Office. The application must be in French.
Multiple-class applications are possible.
Foreign applicants need a local agent.
A non-legalised power of attorney in French is sufficient.
Foreign applicants do not need a domestic registration.
The application process includes a formal examination and an examination of distinctiveness.
Signs not deemed distinctive in the examination can be registered if distinctiveness has been acquired by use. Applications are not officially searched as to prior marks.
The processing time from first filing to registration or first office action is approx. 3 months. After registration, the trademark is published black and white in an annex of the quarterly “Journal de Monaco” Intellectual Property Section.

National:
There is no opposition procedure at the registry. A court action is required to cancel a mark.

Opposition against designation of IR Mark
(The period starts from the national publication date, if not stated differently):
no opposition period

A trademark registration is valid for 10 years from date of application.
The registration is renewable for periods of 10 years.

There are no use requirements.

The official fee is EUR 63.00 for up to three classes and EUR 18.00 for each additional class.

Trademark Licence Agreement
In Monaco a licence agreement has to be performed in writing. Licensing of unregistered trademarks is permitted. A licence to use a trademark may be restricted to only some of the goods and/or services in respect of which the mark is registered. The sale of a registered trademark does not automatically terminate the licence agreement. There are no statutory provisions which require specific terms to be incorporated into an agreement which grants a licence to use a trademark.

Recordal
There are provisions in law for the recordal of a licensee with the Trademark Office. The recordal is voluntary. There is no time frame for a recordal and no prescribed form or content for a licence agreement.

Effectiveness
A licence becomes enforceable against third parties when it is recorded. Recordal of a licence is published once in the Official Gazette.

Infringement Proceedings
There is an evidentiary presumption that use by a recorded licensee is permitted use. A licensee may join the proprietor in infringement proceedings. A registered user may call upon the trademark owner to institute infringement proceedings. He can institute proceedings in his own name after a certain period of time (which must be provided for in the licence agreement) if the proprietor refuses or neglects to do so.

Search type	First class	Add. class
Word Mark Search (availability)	220,00 €	70,00 €
Word Mark Search (identical)	60,00 €	20,00 €
Extended Search (word mark, company name, domain)
Device Mark Search (availability)
Trademark Owner Search	140,00 €
Company Name Search
Domain Name Search (extended)
i-Search (word mark availability + legal opinion)	550,00 €	150,00 €

The Prices above are S.M.D. Markeur Search Fees