UPDATE ON TRADEMARK RENEWAL DEADLINES IN CHILE
A circular was published in the Official Gazette on 17 March 2021, by which the Chilean Trademark Office issues instructions to incorporate the criteria of the Trademark Law Treaty (TLT) into its practices.
According to the current Industrial Property Law, the renewal of trademark registrations can only be made up to a grace period for filing the respective application, which is 30 working days after the expiry of the respective trademark registration.
This circular states that the period within which renewal of trademarks may be filed is between 6 months before and 6 months after the expiry of the registration.
The above-mentioned matter does not apply to sound, collective, certification and guarantee marks, in which case the deadline for filing the renewal request is 30 days after the expiry of the registration, as the TLT does not apply to these marks.
In parallel, Chilean law states that the renewal tax (official fees) must be paid and the payment must be proved, within a maximum period of 6 months after the expiry of the registration.
In the first 30 days, the corresponding tax is paid without any surcharge; but from the first month after the expiry of the 30 days, the respective tax will be subject to a surcharge of 20% per month or fraction of a month.
The same circular states that, given that Chilean law establishes a 6-month deadline for paying the tax, the tax with the respective surcharges must be paid and the payment proved within the same 6-month period.
Therefore, when the renewal of a trademark is requested towards the end of the six-month period counted from the expiry of the registration, the tax must preferably be paid together with the filing of the application, but never after the deadline.
Andres Echeverria
Lawyer
Partner
Johansson & Langlois
Santiago - Chile