NEW OPPOSITIONS RESOLUTION SYSTEM IN ARGENTINA.
Once the trademark has been published at the Trademark Bulletin, any third parties who consider that your application infringes their trademark rights have a legal term of thirty (30) calendar days to lodge an “OPPOSITION”. The grounds for opposition may be several, as, for instance, considering that your trademark is confusingly similar to their own.
Applicant and opponent will have three months as from service of notice of the opposition to settle the issue (“cooling-off” period to give the parties time to negotiate and settle the matter amicably), and if they fail to do so the Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”) will decide whether the opposition is warranted or not (under the Trademark Act section 16, as amended); the PTO’s decision may be appealed before the Federal Court of Appeals ( Trademark Act, section 17, second paragraph, as amended).
Administrative resolution of trademark opposition’s procedure:
1.- The PTO serves notice to the opponent in order to pay the opposition maintenance fee (350 USD). After paying such fee, the opponent is given a term of 15 working days in which to submit further facts, observations and evidence to substantiate the opposition. The Applicant is then given 15 days in which to file observations in response. The PTO will first decide on the admission of the evidence offered by the parties and open an evidence stage of 40 days.
2. – Once either party has provided all the evidence, the PTO will grant a 10-day period in which both parties could file closing arguments.
3. – The PTO will make a decision on the basis of the information provided.
4. – A party may appeal the decision within 30 days following the date on which the decision was notified by filing a notice of appeal and paying the official appeal fee of USD 35.