Trademarkia (or “Trademarkia P.C.”) is the registered trade name of the law firm LegalForce RAPC Worldwide P.C. The law firm operates www.trademarkia.com, which provides the Internet’s largest, free search tool with a database of more than 8 million trademarks and logos. Other than searching the trademarks for free, a visitor of the website may also place orders on www.trademarkia.com to seek Trademarkia P.C.’s legal services. After the law firm conducts the required conflict checks and accepts the payment, and after a written retainer agreement is entered into, the visitor becomes the client of Trademarkia P.C..

Since 2009, Trademarkia P.C. has helped more than 100,000 clients registering trademarks in more than 170 countries around the world.

After the Communist regime was overthrown in late 1989, the country experienced a decade of economic instability and decline, led in part by an obsolete industrial base and a lack of structural reform. From 2000 onwards, however, the Romanian economy was transformed into one of relative macroeconomic stability, characterised by high growth, low unemployment and declining inflation. In 2006, according to the Romanian Statistics Office, GDP growth in real terms was recorded at 7.7%, one of the highest rates in Europe. Growth dampened to 6.1% in 2007,[148] but was expected to exceed 8% in 2008 because of a high production forecast in agriculture (30–50% higher than in 2007). The GDP grew by 8.9% in the first nine months of 2008, but growth fell to 2.9% in the fourth quarter and stood at 7.1% for the whole 2008 because of the financial crisis.

The right to the trademark belongs to the natural or legal entity who first filed, as per the law, the application for the trademark registration. Registration of a trademark may be asked individually or in common by physical or legal entities, directly or through a representative with the address or premises in Romania. The applicant or the holder of the mark who does not reside or have the registered office within the territory of Romania shall be represented in the proceedings before the State Office by an authorized representative residing or having the registered office in Romania. Where an application for registration of a mark has been regularly filed for the first time in another member state of the Paris Union or member of the World Trade Organization, the applicant may claim the date of the first filing by means of an application for registration of the same mark in Romania, on condition that the latter application be filed with the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks within six months of the date of the first filing.

Marks which can be registered may be constituted by distinctive signs such as words, including personal names, designs, letters, numerals, figurative elements, three-dimensional shapes, and, particularly, the shape of goods or of packaging thereof, or combinations of colors, together with any combination of such signs.

The following marks shall be excluded from protection and may not be registered: (a) marks which do not conform to the provisions of "trademark definition"; (b) marks which are devoid of any distinctive character; (c) marks which consist exclusively of signs or indications which have become customary in the current language or in the bona fide and established practices of the trade; (d) marks which consist exclusively of signs or indications which may serve, in trade, to designate the kind, quality, quantity, intended purpose, value, geographical origin or the time of production of the goods or of rendering of the service, or other characteristics of the goods or services; (e) marks which consist exclusively of the shape of the product which results from the nature of the goods themselves or which is necessary to obtain a technical result or which gives substantial value to the goods; (0 marks which are liable to mislead the public as to the geographical origin, the quality, or nature of the goods or service; (g) marks which contain a geographical indication or which consist therein, for goods which do not originate on the designated territory if the use of such indication is liable to mislead the public as to the true place of origin; (h) marks which consist of a geographical indication identifying wines or spirits which do not originate in the place indicated or which comprise such indication; (i) marks contrary to public policy or to accepted principles of morality; 6) marks which contain, without the consent of the owner, the likeness or surname of a person of repute in Romania; (k) marks which contain, without the permission of the competent authorities, reproductions or imitations of armorial bearings, flags, state emblems, signs, official hallmarks of control and warranty, coats of arms belonging to countries of the Union and which are governed by Article 6ter of the Paris Convention; (1) marks which contain, without the permission of the competent authorities, reproductions or imitations of armorial bearings, flags, other emblems, abbreviations, initials, or denominations which are governed by Article 6ter of the Paris Convention and which belong to international intergovernmental organizations to which one or more countries of the Union are party. The provisions of items b, c, and d shall not apply if, prior to the date of the application for registration of a mark and by reason of its use, the mark has acquired a distinctive character.

Only a registered trademark grants its owner exclusive rights over the trademark. The owner of the unregistered mark (excepting notorious mark in accordance with the Paris Covention) cannot ask to the competent high court to prohibit the third parties from using, in their commercial activities, a sign identical or similar for identical products or services.

1) Power of attorney, simply signed. No legalization or notarization is required. (2) Name and address of the applicant. (3) When priority is claimed, it must be stated: country, priority date and number, and priority document is required. (4) Specification of goods and services and international classes. (5) Ten labels whitelblack max. 8 x 8 cm and for trademarks in colors, 10 labels in colors same size by indicating colors. Not required for word marks.

An application for registration of a mark containing particulars of the identity of the applicant, a reproduction of the mark, and a statement of the goods or services for which registration is requested, drafted in Romanian, shall be filed with the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks and shall constitute the regular national filing of the mark. An application may concern one mark only. The Romanian Trade Mark Office makes a formal and a substantive examination. After the substantive examination, a trademark can be rejected based on the absolute or relative grounds. In order to overcome the refusal, it is possible to file a response based on arguments or letter of consent from the owner of the opposed mark.

The registration of a trademark produces effects beginning with the date of the regulatory national deposit of the marks, for a period of 10 years. The registration may be renewed for another period of 10 years. The renewal fees may be also paid in the following six months from the expiration of the protection period, with the increase of the renewal fees provided by the law.

(a) Any interested person may require to the High Court of Bucharest, anytime during protection period of the trademark, the owner declining of the rights granted by the trademark, if with no justified reasons, the trademark was not the object of an effective use on the territory of Romania for uninterrupted period of five years, for the products or services for which it was registered. This legal provision applies only after July 23, 2003. (b) Any interested person may require to the High Court of Bucharest the cancellation of the trademark registration if the registration of the trademark was required in bad faith. The action in cancellation for this reason may be introduced anytime in the period of trademark protection.

No provision

Law no. 20212000 regarding the enforcement of the Intellectual Property Rights at the custom and the Methodological Rules regarding the application of the Law (Government Decision no. 30112001). According to the law, the trademark owner may call upon the help of the custom authorities in connection with the importation of the goods into Romania. The official administrative fees for the custom procedure are in amount of 500 Euros, and if counterfeited products are seized in 10 days, the owner has to file a legal action to the judiciary authorities. A security has to be deposited; the range of the deposit is dependent upon the value of the seized goods.