P.R. Laws tit. 10, § 223c

2019-02-20 00:00:00+00
§ 223c. Unregistrable marks

No trademark which consists of the following shall be registered:

(1) Material contrary to the law, morality or public order.

(2) The flag, coat-of-arms or other insignia, sign or symbol of Puerto Rico or the United States or the states, municipalities, territories, cities, municipalities or foreign cities or nations, or any simulation thereof.

(3) A name, portrait, or signature identifying a particular living individual, except by his written consent. This provision shall not apply to surnames, except in the case that a particular individual is only known by his surname. Likewise, no trademark shall be registered which is primarily a surname, unless it has acquired distinctiveness by secondary meaning.

(4) Words descriptive of the goods or services in which the mark is used, unless they have acquired secondary meaning.

(5) Words to indicate the genre of the goods or services in which the mark is used.

(6) Shape or packaging when the nature, shape or packaging is essential to its function.

(7) Geographic names or terms indicating the source or origin of the goods or services, except when the same have acquired secondary meaning, or deceptive geographic terms. Geographic terms may be registered if there is no relation between the product and the geographic area in question. In other words, the arbitrary use of a geographic term is registrable as a mark, provided that the location whose name is sought to be used as mark, is not known as the producer of the goods sought to be identified with the mark.

(8) An equal or similar mark that is likely to cause confusion as to the source of the goods or services with another mark registered or used in commerce in Puerto Rico by another person and which is used or intended to be used for goods or services equal or similar to those of a mark already registered or previously used in commerce in Puerto Rico.

(9) A mark equal or substantially similar to a famous or notable mark of any country known to the relevant market in Puerto Rico, even if it is not used in Puerto Rico.

History —Dec. 16, 2009, No. 169, § 5; July 12, 2011, No. 124, § 3.