Brunei

The current trademark regulations in Brunei are mainly based on the Trademark Law implemented on June 1, 2000. The Brunei Trademark Office is responsible for managing trademark affairs and the official language is Malay. Trademark registration is not mandatory, but in order to protect the trademark or renew it, it must be registered in accordance with the law. Brunei trademark registration adopts the principle of "use first". Brunei is a party to international intellectual property treaties such as the TRIPS Agreement, Paris Convention, and WIPO Convention. It joined the Madrid Protocol in 2016, so trademark registration can be processed through either "single country registration" or "Madrid international registration". At present, the Brunei Trademark Office adopts the Nice Classification 11th edition for the description of goods and services and accepts applications for multiple categories in one form. The elements that can be registered as trademarks in Brunei include: text, name, graphics, three-dimensional identification, color combination, slogan, appearance, dynamic graphics, etc. If the applicant does not reside in Brunei, they must entrust a specialized agent in their home country to handle the matter. The basic materials required for trademark application are: 1. Trademark design; 2. Specific product/service items; 3. Name and address of the applicant; 4.If priority is declared, proof of priority must be provided. The main process for applying for registration of a Brunei trademark is: application examination announcement approval issuance. After about one week of application submission, the Brunei Trademark Office will conduct formal and substantive examinations. If the examination fails, a rejection notice will be issued and the applicant will be required to respond within the time limit specified in the rejection notice; Once the review is approved, an announcement will be made, and a 3-month objection period will be set from the announcement date. Any interested party or prior rights holder may raise objections, and the main reasons for raising objections are: 1. Conflict with prior trademarks, such as owning a prior registered trademark; 2. Trademarks are descriptive; 3. The trademark lacks distinctiveness; 4. The trademark has adverse effects; 5. Well known trademark; 6. Malicious registration; 7. Conflict with other prior rights, such as trade name rights, design rights, copyrights, personal names, etc. If there are no objections or objections are not valid during the announcement period, the trademark will be approved for registration. If everything goes smoothly, trademark registration in Brunei will take about 2 years. If there are any objections or rejections encountered during the process, the time will be extended.