Intellectual Property Ep. 3: How to Register Your Trademark Online in Costa Rica

A trademark is your company’s calling card. It is the first glimpse into the essence of your business, as well as the goods, products, and services it offers. A trademark is an invaluable asset that must be properly protected.

Over the past few weeks, we have been developing a series of articles on the importance of and the correct way to register a trademark in Costa Rica. We have already reviewed the requirements, fees, categories, and the in-person registration process at the offices of the “Registro Nacional de Costa Rica”. In this third installment, we will cover the process of registering a trademark online.

How to Register Your Trademark Online

We will start from the assumption that you already have all the requirements ready, you know exactly which category of services or products you want to protect under your new trademark, and you are certain that your trade name or logo does not create confusion or has not been previously registered by a third party. In other words, you are ready to register your trademark online.

The online trademark registration process is essentially the same as registering it in person at the Costa Rican National Registry Institution, with one important difference: for the online process, you must have a digital signature. This digital signature is required to create your online user account, submit the application form, and attach the required documents through the Registro Nacional de Costa Rica’s official website, using the WIPO File system.

It is important to remember that, unlike the in-person process—where we recommend paying the fees directly at the bank to obtain physical receipts—for the online process it is best to complete everything digitally. This allows you to keep all documentation in electronic format and helps avoid potential complications.

You must also have all the necessary applications installed for the process, such as Adobe Acrobat to digitally sign the documents you will submit, as well as the latest version of Java required by the system. These applications can be found on the Registro Nacional’s website. Under the Online Services section, look for the Trademarks and Patents system, where you can find the various drivers and applications needed to register in the online system and properly use your digital signature.

Once everything is ready, you can proceed to register in the WIPO File System for the Online Filing of Trademarks and Patents. The system will request your email address, phone number, and digital signature PIN. The system will validate your information, and your account will be successfully created.

To log in, the system will again request your digital signature PIN. Remember that throughout the entire process, your digital signature device must be connected to your computer.

Submission of Digital Documents

Once inside the system, you will see your account dashboard. From there, you can update your personal information, submit new trademark applications, and file additional documents such as corrections and responses to observations during the process.

Click on the Create tab and select Application.

Complete the virtual form displayed on the screen, including:

• the type of trademark or sign to be registered
• the name and details of the owner
• the name of the trademark to be registered
• the bank payment reference numbers
• the translation of the trademark if it is in a language other than Spanish
• an image of the logo in JPG, JPEG, or BMP format
• the address of the business location (if you offer online services or do not have a physical location, you may use your home address)
• the Nice Classification and describe the products and services you wish to protect under the trademark you are registering

Once the form is completed, click the Validate button. If any information is missing, the system will notify you. Otherwise, you will see a message that says “Form Successfully Validated“. Save the information and download the electronic form in PDF format so you can digitally sign it using Adobe Acrobat.

The signed form must then be attached to a template that can be downloaded from the same screen. In this template, you must also attach the bank payment receipts.

After downloading the template, the system will enable a space in the form for you to upload it with all the required documents included. Once the template is ready and uploaded to the system, you can save and validate everything again. If there are no issues, you may click the Submit Application button, and the filing will be officially submitted.

If everything proceeds normally, the Costa Rican National Registry Institution (Registro Nacional de Costa Rica) will notify you by email that you may proceed with the publication of the legal notices (edictos) in the Costa Rican Official Journal, “La Gaceta”. Otherwise, you will receive an email detailing any observations that must be corrected before moving forward with the trademark registration.

In our fourth and final blog post in this Intellectual Property Series, we will explain how to submit and publish the legal notices in La Gaceta, all the way through obtaining the National Registry certificate that confirms your trademark has been successfully registered and protected.

If you have further questions regarding your brand registration, don’t hesitate to contact the experts in communication & marketing at Endemic Media. We are ready to help you take your project to the next level.