Bangladesh distinguishes three things that get confused in practice: altering the mark, correcting the register, and rectifying an entry that should not be there. The first two are administrative. The third is an attack.
And one piece of housekeeping does more work here than elsewhere: the renewal reminder the Registrar must send goes to the recorded address.
Quick reference
| What you want to do | Provision |
|---|---|
| Alter a registered mark | Section 53 |
| Correct the register | Section 52 |
| Correct an error in an application, notice of opposition or counter-statement | Section 19 |
| Correct a clerical error or obvious mistake in the register or certificate | Section 20(5) |
| Adapt entries to an amended classification | Section 54 |
| Change the class of a registered mark | Provided for in the Rules |
| Remove an entry that should not be there | Section 51 — rectification |
| Add goods or services | Not possible — a new application |
Altering a registered mark
Section 53 provides for the alteration of a registered trademark on the application of the registered proprietor.
As everywhere in the region, the governing limit is identity: an alteration that would substantially affect the identity of the mark is not an alteration at all, it is a different mark. Section 19 applies the same principle to applications, allowing correction of an error rather than substitution of a new mark.
The practical test is the one a searcher would apply. If the change would have altered someone’s clearance decision, it is a new mark and it needs a new application — with a new date, a fresh examination, and a fresh seven-year first term running from that date.
Keep the old registration while the old mark is in use
This matters more in Bangladesh than in a ten-year jurisdiction, because a new application restarts a seven-year clock and because the non-use provisions reach back.
Where a brand is being refreshed, the old registration should normally be kept while the old mark remains in use anywhere — on stock, packaging or in the trade. Two provisions make that worth doing:
Section 49 allows the use of one of several associated or substantially identical marks to be treated as equivalent where use has to be proved. A new mark registered alongside the old one, and associated with it, benefits from that.
Section 13 means the Registrar may in any event require the new and old marks to be registered as associated — which has a cost, since associated marks are assignable only as a whole.
Correcting the register
Section 52 provides for correction of the register, and section 20(5) separately lets the Registrar amend the register or a certificate of registration to correct a clerical error or an obvious mistake.
Corrections cover the ordinary things: a misspelled name, a wrong address, a transposed number, particulars that were recorded incorrectly.
What a correction is not is a route to change what the registration covers. Adding goods or services is not available at all — that is a new application in the relevant class.
Changes of name and address
A change of the proprietor’s name or address is recorded on application. In Bangladesh this is not housekeeping, for three reasons.
The renewal reminder goes there. Section 22(3) requires the Registrar to send notice of the date of expiration and the renewal conditions at the prescribed time before expiry, and rule 36(2) requires a notice at least two months before expiry where no renewal application has been made. An address left stale on the register is the single most common reason a foreign owner never sees it — and Bangladesh’s seven-year first term means that notice arrives earlier than people expect. See renewal and restoration.
The address for service fixes the office. Section 15(4) determines the filing office by reference to the address for service in Bangladesh where the applicant does not carry on business there, and section 111 deals with the address for service of notice. A change affects where things happen, not just where post goes.
Transactions stall on it. Section 33 gives the power to assign to the person for the time being entered in the register as proprietor, subject to rights appearing from the register. A chain of unrecorded name changes is discovered during diligence rather than before it.
Changes to classification
Section 54 provides for the adaptation of entries in the register to an amended or substituted classification, and the Rules separately provide for a change of the class of goods or services of a registered mark.
Those are distinct from altering the mark. They adjust how the registration is indexed and described, not what it is.
See trademark classes in Bangladesh.
Changes to a registered user entry
Where a licence is on the register through the registered user system, section 47 governs changes to it: variation by the Registrar as regards the goods or services or the conditions, on the proprietor’s written application; and cancellation on the application of the proprietor, the registered user, another registered user, or any person on specified grounds.
A registered user entry left in place after the relationship has ended is untidy and occasionally worse — the former licensee remains a recorded party with an interest in the registration. See registered users and licensing.
What is not a change
Rectification. Section 51 is the power to cancel or vary a registration or rectify the register on the application of a person aggrieved, for an entry made without sufficient cause or wrongly remaining. That is an attack on the entry, not an amendment of it, and it may be made to the High Court Division or the Registrar — with the Court the compulsory forum where validity is raised in an infringement suit.
Assignment. A change of ownership is not an amendment. It is an assignment, with its own rules — including the six-month advertisement procedure where the assignment is made otherwise than in connection with goodwill, failing which the assignment does not take effect. See trademark assignment in Bangladesh.
A rebranding checklist
- New logo or wordmark — new applications, one per class, with a fresh seven-year term from the application date.
- Keep the old registrations while the old mark is still in use, and expect association.
- Company renamed — record it against every registration, not just the flagship one.
- Moved offices or changed agents — update the address and the address for service, so the renewal notice arrives.
- Licence arrangements changed — vary or cancel the registered user entry.
- Check the renewal dates while you are there, calculated from application dates rather than certificates.
Frequently asked questions
Can I change my registered trademark in Bangladesh? Section 53 provides for alteration of a registered trademark on the proprietor’s application, within the limit that the identity of the mark must not be substantially affected. A redesign is a new mark.
Can I add goods to an existing registration? No. Additional goods or services require a new application in the relevant class.
How do I update my company name on the register? By application to record the change. It is worth doing promptly, because the statutory renewal notice goes to the recorded address and the power to assign rests with the proprietor entered on the register.
What is the difference between correction and rectification? Correction under section 52 fixes errors in the register. Rectification under section 51 is an application by a person aggrieved to cancel or vary a registration or to remove an entry made without sufficient cause.
I am rebranding. Should I alter the registration or file again? File again unless the change is genuinely cosmetic, and keep the old registration while the old mark remains in use. Remember the new application starts a fresh seven-year term.
What happens to my registered user entry if the licence ends? It stays until it is varied or cancelled. Cancellation can be applied for by the proprietor, the registered user or another registered user.
Useful official resources
- Department of Patents, Designs and Trademarks, Bangladesh — forms and fees
- Trademarks Act, 2009 — sections 15, 19, 20, 22, 33, 47, 51 to 54, 111
- Trademarks Rules — rules 36, 73
See our related notes on renewal and restoration, trademark assignment and rectification and cancellation.
Rebranding in Bangladesh, or carrying a register that no longer matches the company? Talk to us.