Bangladesh protects trademarks under the Trademarks Act, 2009, administered by the Department of Patents, Designs and Trademarks. The statute sits in the older subcontinental tradition — essential particulars, associated marks, registered users, defensive registration — with a modern infringement provision grafted on.
Two features shape everything else. The first registration term is seven years, not ten. And section 93 provides that no extension of time may be granted where a time is expressly provided in the Act or the rules — so the deadlines that are written down are the deadlines.
Quick reference
| Governing law | Trademarks Act, 2009, with the Trademarks Rules |
| Office | Department of Patents, Designs and Trademarks, Dhaka |
| Classification | The international classification; one class per application |
| Form | TM-1, in triplicate |
| Priority | Six months from the Convention filing, with the certified copy |
| Objection reply | Two months, extendable by two months |
| Opposition | Two months from advertisement — not extendable |
| Counter-statement | Two months from receipt, or the application is deemed abandoned |
| Opposition timetable | To be concluded within 120 working days |
| First term | Seven years from the date of application |
| Renewals | Ten years each |
| Restoration | Within one year of expiry of the last registration |
| Non-use removal | Five years and one month |
| Madrid Protocol | Not a member |
The seven-year first term
This is the single most consequential difference from the rest of the region, and the most common cause of a lost Bangladeshi registration.
Section 22(1): registration is for a period of seven years. Section 22(2): the Registrar renews it for ten years from the expiration of the original registration or the last renewal.
And the term does not run from the certificate. Section 20(1) provides that on registration the Registrar gives effect to the mark from the date of the making of the application, and that date shall be deemed to be the date of registration. For a Convention application, section 120 substitutes the date of the Convention filing.
So a registration granted three years after filing has four years left when the certificate arrives. A portfolio diary built on ten-year cycles from certificate dates will miss Bangladesh twice over.
Filing
Applications are made on Form TM-1 in three copies, and the Rules require a separate application for each class. Classification follows the Fourth Schedule, with textiles separately in the Fifth Schedule.
Where the applicant does not carry on business in Bangladesh, the application is filed at the office having territorial jurisdiction over the address for service disclosed in the application.
Section 15(5) lets the Registrar accept an application absolutely, refuse it recording the grounds, or accept it subject to amendments, modifications, conditions or limitations.
What can be registered
Section 6 keeps the old essential particulars test. A mark is not registrable unless it contains or consists of at least one of:
- the name of a company, individual or firm represented in a special or particular manner;
- the signature of the applicant or a predecessor in business;
- one or more invented words;
- one or more words having no direct reference to the character or quality of the goods or services, and not being, in their ordinary signification, a geographical name, surname or personal name or a common abbreviation, or the name of a sect, caste or tribe in Bangladesh; or
- any other distinctive mark.
A name, signature or word falling outside the first four categories is registrable only on evidence of its distinctiveness.
Then the prohibitions in section 8 — scandalous or obscene matter, use contrary to law, likelihood of deception or confusion, matter likely to hurt the religious susceptibilities of any class of citizens, State and international emblems, anything otherwise disentitled to protection in a court, and an application made in bad intention and faith.
See marks that cannot be registered.
Examination and objections
The Registrar notifies any objection, condition, amendment, modification or restriction in writing. The applicant then has two months to file a written reply or apply for a hearing, extendable by a further two months on the prescribed form.
Failing to do either means the application is deemed abandoned — though the Rules allow reinstatement of an abandoned application within five years of the notice of abandonment, on payment of the prescribed fee, which is an unusually generous second chance.
See examination and objections.
Advertisement and opposition
An accepted application is advertised, together with any conditions or limitations. Any person may oppose within two months of the advertisement.
That two months is fixed by the Act and by the Rules, and section 93 bars an extension of a period expressly provided for. It is the hardest deadline in the system.
The applicant must then file a counter-statement within two months of receiving the notice, failing which the application is deemed abandoned. Evidence follows, a hearing is available, and section 18(8) requires all opposition activity to be concluded within 120 working days of the notice.
Where a party neither resides nor carries on business in Bangladesh, the Registrar may require security for costs, and may treat the opposition or the application as abandoned if it is not given.
See trademark opposition in Bangladesh.
Registration
Where the application is unopposed and the opposition period has expired, or an opposition has been decided in the applicant’s favour, the Registrar registers the mark and issues a certificate.
Section 20(3) sets a service standard: where there is no defect, objection or opposition, the certificate is to be provided within 150 working days of filing. Section 20(4) sets the opposite limit — registration not completed within one year because of the applicant’s default leads to abandonment after notice.
Enforcement
Section 24(1) is the classic bar: no proceeding may be brought to prevent or recover damages for the infringement of an unregistered trademark. Section 24(2) preserves passing off.
For registered marks, section 26 is a modern provision covering identical and similar marks with a likelihood of confusion including the likelihood of association, a reputation and unfair advantage limb for dissimilar goods, and a specific limb for registered well-known marks.
Suits go to a District Court or above. The reliefs are an injunction and, at the plaintiff’s option, either damages or an account of profits, with or without delivery up — but damages and accounts are refused against an innocent infringer who stopped on becoming aware of the right.
See trademark infringement in Bangladesh and passing off.
Frequently asked questions
Why is the first term seven years? Because section 22(1) says so. Renewals are then for ten years each. It is the most common source of missed deadlines for foreign holders of Bangladeshi marks.
Does the seven years run from the certificate? No. Registration takes effect from the date the application was made, and that date is deemed to be the date of registration — or the Convention filing date where priority is claimed.
Can the opposition deadline be extended? No. Two months is fixed by the Act and the Rules, and section 93 bars extension of a period expressly provided for.
Can I file one application for several classes? No. The Rules require a separate application for each class of goods or services.
What happens if my application is abandoned? For abandonment following a missed objection reply, the Rules allow reinstatement within five years of the notice of abandonment on payment of the prescribed fee.
Is Bangladesh in the Madrid System? No. Protection requires a national application, with Paris Convention priority available from an earlier Convention filing.
Useful official resources
- Department of Patents, Designs and Trademarks, Bangladesh
- Trademarks Act, 2009 — WIPO Lex
- Trademarks Rules
See our related notes on filing a trademark in Bangladesh, renewal and restoration and trademark opposition.
Running a Bangladeshi portfolio with the seven-year term in it? Talk to us.