The filing date of a Costa Rican trademark is the one assigned when filing the application.

If priority is claimed, the filing date will remain the same but the priority date will be the one claimed.

Within 15 working days from the filing date

The Costa Rican Trademark Office will determine within 15 working days if the application meets the formal requirements and if it does, the trademark will proceed to substantive examination.

Please note the formal request and the substantive examination are sometimes notified in one document.

Within 15 working days from the filing date

During this phase, the Trademark Office will analyze the application on both absolute and relative grounds of refusal. This includes a search to determine potential legal obstacles.

Please note the formal request and the substantive examination are sometimes notified in one document.

Granting + 15 days

When the CRTMO allows the mark, then the trademark will undergo through publication period.   

In this period the Applicant shall publish, by their means, the application in the Official Journal for three times. 

In the event that the Applicant does not proceed with the publication payment after 6 months, the trademark will be considered as abandoned. 

2 months counted from the first publication date.

The opposition period starts as soon as the trademark is published for the first time and ends 2 months after the first publication is performed.

Within 6 months from the filing date

If no obstacles are found, the Costa Rican Trademark Office will proceed to grant the trademark.

The mark will be protected for a period of 10 years, counting from the granting date.

10 days counting from the granting decision

Once granted, the Trademark Office will order the issuance of a certificate of registration. Starting January 2022 the Costa Rican Trademark Office has started issuing trademark certificates electronically. For applications made before this date, certificates will still be printed in paper. The Trademark Office will not issue both a paper and an electronic certificate for the same trademark.