Registering Trademarks in the Kingdom of Tonga
In 1994 the Government of Tonga enacted the Industrial Property Act for Patents, Utility Model Certificates, Industrial Designs and Trade Marks (Trademarks) in the Kingdom. This Act gives the owners of all Trademarks the exclusive rights and full protection of their inventions, trademarks and other intellectual property interests in the Kingdom.
The Act provides that a trade mark owner may register their mark in Tonga either in a single class or in multiple classes, claim priority on an earlier international registration(s) and register the mark as a collective mark (if applicable). The Act uses the International Classifications of Goods and Services Nice Classifications, 9th Edition, Geneva 2006 for the purposes of registration of marks in the Kingdom.
It would be fair to say that one of the leading lawyers in Tonga in this area of practice is Ms Paea Tohi, now a consultant to Garrett & Associates. Prior to the law being introduced, Ms Tohi had the good fortune to be tutored by Mr Peter Curling, then of A J Park in New Zealand, which was advising the Tongan government on its new trademark registration regime.
All mark applications registered in Tonga are for single marks only. Marks can be registered if they are a “WORD”, “SYMBOL”, “STYLISED”, DEVICE, COLOURED, BLACK AND WHITE or any combination of these. CHARACTERS (Foreign languages such as Chinese, Japanese etc.) are also accepted provided that a Declaration of Transliteration of the character(s) is lodged with the application.
Most importantly, the Act provides that if an applicant’s ordinary residence or principal place of business is outside Tonga - which is effectively almost all Mark owners - they must appoint a local agent to represent them in lodging their trade mark or other intellectual property application(s). The agent must be a lawyer (or accountant) licensed to practice in Tonga.
The time from lodging of a trade mark registration to receiving the certificate of trade mark registration varies depending on when the mark is published in the Tongan Government Gazette. Sometimes a period of several years may lapse between lodging the application and receiving the certificate of registration.
The Act also provides that registered trademarks must be renewed every ten (10) years and patents require annual anniversary fees increasing every year to the twentieth (20) year after the filing date of the application of that patent.
Our Firm acts as agent for a number of long established Intellectual Property Firms from around the globe. We have and will continue to provide first class and cost effective service in this area of the law. Please e-mail for a Schedule of our fees (we bill in USD) and current government filing fees.
Please e-mail all enquiries to Mr David Garrett SC at: d.garrett@xtra.co.nz
In 1994 the Government of Tonga enacted the Industrial Property Act for Patents, Utility Model Certificates, Industrial Designs and Trade Marks (Trademarks) in the Kingdom. This Act gives the owners of all Trademarks the exclusive rights and full protection of their inventions, trademarks and other intellectual property interests in the Kingdom.
The Act provides that a trade mark owner may register their mark in Tonga either in a single class or in multiple classes, claim priority on an earlier international registration(s) and register the mark as a collective mark (if applicable). The Act uses the International Classifications of Goods and Services Nice Classifications, 9th Edition, Geneva 2006 for the purposes of registration of marks in the Kingdom.
It would be fair to say that one of the leading lawyers in Tonga in this area of practice is Ms Paea Tohi, now a consultant to Garrett & Associates. Prior to the law being introduced, Ms Tohi had the good fortune to be tutored by Mr Peter Curling, then of A J Park in New Zealand, which was advising the Tongan government on its new trademark registration regime.
All mark applications registered in Tonga are for single marks only. Marks can be registered if they are a “WORD”, “SYMBOL”, “STYLISED”, DEVICE, COLOURED, BLACK AND WHITE or any combination of these. CHARACTERS (Foreign languages such as Chinese, Japanese etc.) are also accepted provided that a Declaration of Transliteration of the character(s) is lodged with the application.
Most importantly, the Act provides that if an applicant’s ordinary residence or principal place of business is outside Tonga - which is effectively almost all Mark owners - they must appoint a local agent to represent them in lodging their trade mark or other intellectual property application(s). The agent must be a lawyer (or accountant) licensed to practice in Tonga.
The time from lodging of a trade mark registration to receiving the certificate of trade mark registration varies depending on when the mark is published in the Tongan Government Gazette. Sometimes a period of several years may lapse between lodging the application and receiving the certificate of registration.
The Act also provides that registered trademarks must be renewed every ten (10) years and patents require annual anniversary fees increasing every year to the twentieth (20) year after the filing date of the application of that patent.
Our Firm acts as agent for a number of long established Intellectual Property Firms from around the globe. We have and will continue to provide first class and cost effective service in this area of the law. Please e-mail for a Schedule of our fees (we bill in USD) and current government filing fees.
Please e-mail all enquiries to Mr David Garrett SC at: d.garrett@xtra.co.nz