In the final months of 2017 I decided to launch a new project and I thought the first step would be to register the brand. The name already had a history and had been used before, so before launching the project I needed to know if I could do it legally - or not.
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This article tells the story of how I registered the name T-SHIRT LOVERS.
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I won't talk here about the T-Shirt Lovers project itself, you can find information on our website. What I'll talk about is the research I've done and the steps and costs of registering a trade mark with the INPI, the waiting time and other relevant information.
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The name T-Shirt Lovers had been used before, although it was abandoned. I had no website, no registration, no social networks, nothing. What I had was - in fact - an inspired name that I had loved for years.
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What I did before registering
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Before going ahead with any investment, my first step was to search the INPI to see if the name was registered.
I recommend doing the three searches that come up, just in case.
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As the name was not actively registered, I moved on to the next step, which was to see if there was anything national with an online presence.
At this point, our friend Google is always reliable and showed me that there were no sites associated with the project, neither in .pt, nor in .com, nor with or without hyphens. Zero, then.
Searching social networks I found something registered but without any activity since 2012, which means it had been idle for more than five years.
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As there was nothing legally registered in practice and no national or international online presence, I thought I'd take a chance and invest the €120 that the INPI charges to register a trade mark.
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How I registered
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Although at the time of writing, the INPI website has a design straight out of 1999, the functionalities are simple and the bureaucracy is almost non-existent. It's intuitive and doesn't complicate what doesn't need to be complicated (i.e. you don't need a degree to register a trade mark).
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In this field, simply follow the logic of "Registration Request" > "National Brand" and you'll be redirected to a new portal to follow up.
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We opted for the verbal record, where I only recorded the text, without any associated image or logo.
This registration - at the moment - costs 124.45€, which is non-refundable if the registration is not granted. In my opinion, it's a good investment and one that could save you a lot of headaches in the future.
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We now come to point 2, which - for me - is the most difficult and tedious part of the whole process.
In this step we have to select the category in which our brand is associated. Personally, I've stuck with class 25, clothing, but I recommend that you also analyse whether there are other classes that are more suited to what you're looking for.
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The following steps are extremely simple. In step 3, the system immediately tells you if there are any similar names that could harm you (extremely useful if you haven't done the necessary research).
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We finish with point 4, which is as simple as filling in the "Applicant" field with your personal details.
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Finally, the payment and confirmation details appear.
Basically, it works like any online e-commerce shop where you need to fill in the details of the product you want to buy and your details to complete the purchase. It's not difficult or very bureaucratic and it takes 10 to 20 minutes to complete the whole process.
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How long does it take to register a trade mark?
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This is the worst part.
A characteristic of the Portuguese is that they leave everything to the last minute. This means that we don't like to wait and we want to snap our fingers and get things done.
The "nut is tied to the tail" when we get involved with the state, where there are processes and things take a long time without us being able to press for them to be done.
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There are six stages to the process, the first of which you've already completed, which is the garment.
The second and third phases are extremely fast, taking around a month together (or even less).
The opposition phase will take the longest to complete. This is the phase in which someone can oppose your registration by presenting documentation or facts that make it impossible to register your trade mark. From my own experience, this is the phase in which you should be most nervous because - sometimes - situations arise that you don't expect (either because you've done your research wrong or because someone "remembers" to oppose you).
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Once this deadline has passed, the process automatically moves on to substantive examination, where it is studied to make sure it doesn't break any rules and, after a few weeks (2-3 in my experience), the trade mark registration is granted - or not.
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How did it go in our case?
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This isn't the first time we've registered, but I was already familiar with the process, so filling in the forms was relatively quick.
We completed the registration on 12 October and the opposition phase was available until 26 December, and a few days later we entered the exam. This examination took two weeks to complete. We were granted registration on 15 January, about three months later.
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This will be the normal deadline for any candidacy, when things go well. In your case, it could be a little quicker (we had several holidays in November and December) or it could be a little slower (if there are any problems during the registration phases).
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In one way or another, this was our experience when registering a national trade mark with the INPI.
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We hope we've been useful to you!
