The Trademark Law Treaty (TLT) aims to standardize and streamline national trademark registration procedures. It simplifies application processes, harmonizes procedures across countries, and establishes maximum requirements that national offices can impose. The TLT was adopted in 1994 and entered into force in 1996. It streamlines renewal procedures, covers marks for goods and services, and prohibits requirements for authenticated documents, benefiting trademark owners.

1. Trademark Law Treaty
By Monil Shah (3065)
Source: WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization)

2. Definition
 The aim of the Trademark Law Treaty (TLT) is to
standardize and streamline national and
regional trademark registration procedures. This is
achieved through the simplification and harmonization of
certain features of those procedures, thus making
trademark applications and the administration of
trademark registrations in multiple jurisdictions less
complex and more predictable.
 The TLT was enacted to simplify procedures in the
application and registration process and to harmonize
trademark procedures in different countries. The TLT
harmonizes procedures of national trademark offices by
establishing the maximum requirements a contracting
party can impose.
2

3. History
3
 adopted on October 27, 1994
 entered into force on August 1, 1996
 The TLT was adopted in Geneva, Switzerland on
October 27, 1994.
 Notification has been received from the World
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) that the
United States of America has deposited its
instrument of ratification of the Trademark Law
Treaty (TLT) on May 12, 2000
 45 states, including the United States, are party to
the TLT as of November 9, 2009.

4. Procedure of TLT
4
 The great majority of the provisions of the TLT
concern the procedure before a trademark office
which can be divided into three main phases:
application for registration; changes after
registration; and renewal. The rules concerning each
phase are constructed so as to clearly define the
requirements for an application or a specific request.
 As to the first phase – application for registration –
the Contracting Parties to the TLT may require, as a
maximum, the some indications like a request, the
name and address and other indications concerning
the applicant and the representative etc.

5. Procedure of TLT (Continue..)
5
 Each Contracting Party must also allow that an
application can relate to goods and/or services
belonging to several classes of the Nice
Classification. As the list of permissible requirements
is exhaustive, a Contracting Party cannot require, for
example, that the applicant produce an extract from
a register of commerce, an indication of a certain
commercial activity, or evidence to the effect that the
mark has been registered in the trademark register
of another country.

6. Procedure of TLT (Continue..)
6
 The second phase of the trademark procedure
covered by the TLT concerns changes in names or
addresses and changes in the ownership of the
registration. Here too, the applicable formal
requirements are exhaustively listed. A single
request is sufficient even where the change relates
to more than one – possibly hundreds – of trademark
applications or registrations, provided that the
change to be recorded pertains to all registrations or
applications concerned.

7. Procedure of TLT (Continue..)
7
 As to the third phase, renewal, the TLT standardizes
the duration of the initial period of registration and
the duration of each renewal to 10 years each.
 The TLT also contains Model International Forms
(MIF) corresponding to the maximum requirements
that a Contracting Party may provide for in respect of
a particular procedure or document. A Contracting
Party may also prepare its own Individualized
International Form for use by applicants, provided
that such forms do not require mandatory elements
that would be additional to the elements referred to
in the corresponding MIF.

8. Marks to Which the Treaty Applies
8
 According to Article 2, The Treaty applies to marks
for goods and services. Not all countries currently
register service marks and an effect of accession by
a country to the Treaty is, therefore, that the country
will be obliged to register such marks. In addition,
such a country is also obliged, according to Article
16, to apply the provisions of the Paris Convention
which concern trademarks to service marks.

9. Marks to Which the Treaty Applies
(Continue..)
9
 Collective marks, certification marks and guarantee
marks are not covered by the Treaty, since the
registration of these marks normally requires the
fulfillment of special, vastly varying conditions in the
different countries, which would make harmonization
particularly difficult. Holograms and non-visible signs,
such as sound marks and olfactory marks are also
excluded from the scope of application, because
they are not easily reproduced by graphic means
and because only very few countries provide for the
protection of these marks in their national law.

10. Marks to Which the Treaty Applies
(Continue..)
10
 A registrable mark must consist of visible signs, and
as far as three-dimensional marks are concerned,
only those countries that accept three-dimensional
marks for registration are obliged to apply the Treaty
to such marks.

11. Applications
11
 From the trademark owner's perspective, the TLT
saves time and money in the preparation and filing of
documents for the application. It streamlines the
process for post-registration renewals, recording
assignments, changes of name and address, and
powers of attorney. Member countries to the TLT are
now required to permit the use of multi-class
applications, enabling trademark owners to file a
single application covering multiple classes of goods
and services.

12. Applications (Continue..)
12
 A particularly significant feature of the TLT that
benefits trademark owners is its prohibition of
requirements by national offices for authentication or
certification of documents as well as signatures on
trademark applications and correspondence. Many
countries had required that any signatures submitted
in support of registration of a mark be notarized or
otherwise legalized in accordance with the laws of
that nation.

13. Applications (Continue..)
13
 Under the TLT, it is no longer necessary in most
instances to go through these procedures. This
feature enables trademark owners to complete and
file trademark documents more quickly, at less cost.
Overall, the TLT is intended to facilitate international
trade: It is of particular importance to individuals and
small businesses looking for markets in other
countries.

14. Key Features
14
 TLT include the introduction of an intent-to-
use application system (with proof of use prior to
registration); streamlined renewal procedures;
minimization of the elements to obtain an application
filing date; and simplified procedures for recording
changes in name and ownership of trademark
applications and registrations.

15. Key Features (Continue..)
15
 The TLT is intended to facilitate international trade:
It is of particular importance to individuals and small
businesses looking for markets in other countries.
Currently, WIPO's Standing Committee on
Trademarks, Industrial Designs, and Geographical
Indications (SCT) is conducting negotiations on
proposed revisions to the TLT.

16. 16