The current trademark laws and regulations in Sri Lanka are mainly based on the "Intellectual Property Act" promulgated on November 12, 2003. The National Intellectual Property Office of Sri Lanka is responsible for managing trademark affairs, and the official languages are Sinhala and Tamil. Trademark rights need to be obtained through registration. Trademark registration is not mandatory, but in order to protect the trademark or renew it, registration in accordance with the law is required. Sri Lanka adopts the "first-to-file" principle for trademark registration.

Sri Lanka is a contracting party to international intellectual property treaties such as the "Paris Convention" and the "WIPO Convention", and has not yet joined the "Madrid Agreement" or the "Madrid Protocol". Therefore, trademark registration in Sri Lanka can only be processed through the "national registration" method.

Trademark Application

Sri Lanka adopts the Nice Classification for goods and services descriptions and does not accept one application for multiple classes. The elements that can be registered as trademarks include: words, names, graphics, colors, letters, numbers, etc.

Trademark Application Process in Sri Lanka

The application registration process is: application - acceptance - examination - publication - approval - certificate issuance.

Application: Applications will be accepted approximately 1 to 2 weeks after submission.

Examination: The examiner will conduct a formal examination and a substantive examination of the application. The formal examination mainly checks whether the application requirements and classification information comply with regulations; the substantive examination includes the examination of the trademark's distinctiveness, whether it violates prohibitive registration and use provisions, and whether it conflicts with prior trademarks. If the examination fails, a rejection notice will be issued, requiring the applicant to respond within the time limit specified in the rejection notice. If the substantive examination passes, it will be scheduled for publication.

Publication: There is a 3-month opposition period from the publication date, during which any interested party or prior right holder may file an opposition.

Approval and Certificate Issuance: If there are no objections during the publication period or the objections are not established, the trademark can be approved for registration and a registration certificate will be issued.

Under normal circumstances, trademark registration in Sri Lanka takes about 4 - 5 years; if there are objections or rejections during the process, the time will be greatly extended.

Trademark Maintenance

Trademark registrations in Sri Lanka are valid for 10 years from the application date; renewal can be processed within 12 months before the expiration date, with a grace period of 6 months, and the renewal validity period is 10 years.

If a trademark has not been actually used in the country for 5 consecutive years after registration, anyone may apply for cancellation, except for force majeure.