Area: 33.3 square kilometers.
Population: 686,400 (2024). The Macao Special Administrative Region (English: Macao, Portuguese: Macau), abbreviated as "Macau", is a special administrative region directly under the Central People 's Government of the People's Republic of China. Located west of the Pearl River Estuary in southern China, it is the confluence of land and water between mainland China and the South China Sea. It borders Guangdong Province, is 60 kilometers from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and is 145 kilometers from Guangzhou, Guangdong Province.
Currency name: Macau Pataca.
- Treaty Membership
Macau has not yet joined the Madrid Agreement or the Madrid Protocol, nor has it joined the Hague Agreement. Therefore, Macau trademarks and design patents can only be applied for directly, but invention patents can be applied for directly or extended from the mainland.
III. Trademark Application Procedure and Required Documents
- Trademark Registrable Elements and Types
Elements that can be registered as trademarks in Macau include: text, graphics, symbols, color combinations, three-dimensional shapes, sounds, etc.
The types of trademarks that can be registered in Macao include: trademarks, service marks, collective trademarks and certification trademarks.
- Filing Routes
National filing (direct filing)
- Required Documents
- Power of attorney, which must be notarized;
- List of goods and/or services;
- Clear representation of the mark;
- If priority is claimed, a certified copy of the priority document needs to be submitted..
- Application Procedure and Timeline
Filing: The Ninth Edition of the Nice Classification is adopted. Multiple-class applications are not allowed. The principle of first-to-file is followed.
Preliminary publication: The opposition period is 2 months from the date of the preliminary publication; the publication is conducted in advance before examination.
Examination: formal examination and substantive examination.
Second publication: A second publication will be arranged after the substantive examination is passed.
Registration: It takes about 12 months from filing to registration (if smooth).
- Protection Period and Renewal:
The validity period is 7 years from the date of registration. It can be renewed 6 months before the expiration date with a grace period of 6 months, and each renewal is valid for 7 years.
- Assignment
Allowed for both pending and registered trademarks. A power of attorney (notarized by the assignee) and an assignment agreement (notarized) are required. It takes about 4 months and an official certificate will be issued upon completion.
- Chang of Name/Address
Allowed for both pending and registered trademarks. A power of attorney (notarized) and a scanned copy of the proof of change are required, and the processing time is about 4 months.
- Cancellation:
Non-use Cancellation: If a trademark has not been used for three consecutive years, any interested party may file a cancellation request for the non-used trademark.
- Trademark application statistics *:
A: Statistics on total trademark applications:
2021: 14743
2022: 12432
2023: 13360
B: Statistics on trademark applications from mainland China:
2021: 3649
2022: 3065
2023: 3972
