Why Is It Important to Register Your Trademark in Colombia?
Highlights
- Exclusive use
- What it grants
- the right to use the trademark and to stop others from using it
- 10 years
- Term
- renewable for equal periods, indefinitely
- SIC
- Authority
- Superintendency of Industry and Commerce
- An asset
- Value
- a registered trademark can be licensed, assigned, or valued
In this guide3 sections
Your trademark is what sets your product apart from the rest in the consumer’s mind. Registering it with the Superintendency of Industry and Commerce (SIC) turns that name or logo into a right of your own, backed by law. Without registration you use it in practice, but it is not legally yours, and that leaves the door open for someone else to take it.
What registering your trademark gives you
Registration grants you the exclusive right to use the trademark for the products or services it covers. With that right, you can stop a third party from using an identical or similar sign that confuses consumers, and you have the legal standing to act if someone does.
Something often gets overlooked: a registered trademark is an asset. It stops being just a name and becomes something the company can license, assign, or put a value on when it sells or seeks investment. The recognition consumers give the trademark, whether for its design, quality, price, or service, stays protected and in the name of whoever registered it.
What you risk if you do not register it
Without registration, the concrete risk is that someone else reaches the SIC first with your same sign. If that happens, the party who registered holds the right and can ask you to stop using the name you have worked under for years. Recovering it, when that is even possible, costs time and money. Registering on time is cheaper than fighting over a trademark later.
How to start
The path, in short, has three steps:
- Define the sign you want to register, whether the word, the logo, or both.
- Run a trademark clearance search to assess whether registration is viable and to avoid a rejection over an earlier, similar trademark.
- Identify the products or services you will protect, according to the Nice Classification.
With that settled, the application is filed with the SIC. If you want the full detail on costs, timelines, and requirements, it is in our guide to trademark registration in Colombia.
At SPI Américas we guide that process from start to finish, from the clearance search to the grant. As David F. D’Alessandro puts it, “a business based on a brand is, quite simply, a business prepared for success.”
Frequently asked questions
Is registration required in order to use a trademark?
It is not required in order to use it, but without registration you have no exclusive right over it. Any third party can register the same sign and, with that registration, ask you to stop using it.
Does registering my company with the Chamber of Commerce protect my trademark?
No. Commercial registration with the Chamber of Commerce and trademark registration with the SIC are separate procedures. Having your business name on the commercial register does not give you trademark rights over that name.
How long does the protection of a registered trademark last?
The registration is valid for 10 years counted from the grant, renewable for equal periods indefinitely as long as renewal is requested on time.
Where do I start to register my trademark?
The first step is a trademark clearance search to confirm the sign is available and registrable. From there you define the products or services it will cover and file the application with the SIC.
Contact
Planning to register your trademark?
At SPI Américas we support companies in Colombia and across the region with trademark registration before the SIC, from the clearance search to the grant. Contact us for an initial consultation.