
PROSECUTION GUIDELINES
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You will find here all the important information about filing trademarks, designs and patents.
Choose the country from the below options or just contact us for other territories.
Costa Rica
GDP: $60,126 BILLION
IMPORTS: $19,842 BILLION
POPULATION: 4,999,441
TOTAL AREA: 51,100 KM2
OFFICIAL LANGUAGES: SPANISH
CURRENCY: COSTA RICAN COLÓN (CRC)

Contracting Party of The Paris Convention: YES.
Contracting Party of The Hague Agreement on Industrial Designs: NO.
Law 6867 on Patents, Industrial Designs and Utility Models.
NO.
NO.
- Identification of the applicant and inventors.
- 5 graphic representations.
- Description.
- Power of Attorney notarised.
- Assignment document legalised and authenticated by the Costa Rican Consulate or by means of the Apostille, along with its Spanish translation.
- Priority document, when applicable.
YES.
NO. Once all the requirements have been filed, the PTO will issue 2 edicts, one which must be published in the Official Newspaper “La Gaceta” and the other which must be published in another local newspaper.
- Filing.
- Publication.
- Oppositions.
- Official Examination.
- Decision.
YES. Oppositions can be filed within 3 months from the publication. Once the design is granted, only the applicant can cancel the registration.
1 year.
10 years.
Contracting Party of The Paris Convention: YES.
Contracting Party of The Madrid System: NO.
Trademark Law 7978 of 2000 and its Regulation.
Nice classification, 10th edition.
YES.
Words, letters, numbers, numerals, figurative elements, monograms, pictures, tags, lines, traces, patterns, combinations and dispositions of colours, sounds, packaging or wrapping of products.
- Power of Attorney duly notarised (no legalisation required) within 90 days from filing date (PoA has to be dated before filing date OR Power of Attorney duly notarised (no legalisation required) with an earlier date when the application is filed under the Trade Mark Law Treaty (TLT) within 60 days from filing date.
- Certified copy of priority application and its translation into Spanish within a 90-days term from filing date.
- Absolute grounds for refusal: YES.
- Relative grounds for refusal: YES.
2 months from the first publication date.
Approximately 6 months, unless any obstacles were raised.
10 years from the date of registration.
YES. Cancellation can be requested if the trade mark has not been used for 5 years, counting from the registration date. Partial cancellation is possible.
1 year prior to renewal date.
6 months.
- Contracting Party of The Paris Convention: YES.
- Contracting Party of The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT): YES. Due term for entry into national phase: 31 months.
Patent Law 6867/1983.
- Patent of Invention.
- Utility Model.
NO.
- Power of Attorney duly notarized within 90 days from filing.
- Assignment document from the inventors duly notarized and legalized (which may be substituted by a sworn declaration by the representative) within 60 days from office action.
- Certified copy of priority application within 90 days from filing (not required for entry into national phase of PCT applications provided that PCT/IB304 form is available).
Accepted. Late submission of the Spanish translation is possible within 60 days from office action.
YES, within 15-working days after receipt of official request.
NO.
YES, within three months from the third publication.
YES, within three months from the third publication.
5-6 years.
20 years from filing date.
10 years from filing date.
UM suitable for utensils, instruments, tools, apparatus, devices, or any parts or improvements thereof, but not to chemical products, methods or uses; lower threshold for inventive step.
Yearly after grant, only for patents.
NOT mandatory.
YES.
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