Macao Special Administrative Region implements an independent industrial property system under the One Country, Two Systems policy, governed by Decree-Law No.97/99/M (Macao Industrial Property Code). The competent authority for all trademark filing, examination, registration and post-right administrative procedures is the Intellectual Property Division of the Macao Economic and Technological Development Bureau (DSEDT)澳門特別行.... Macao has not acceded to the Madrid Protocol, so all trademark protection within Macao territory requires independent local filing without international designation channels. This guide elaborates the full registration operation, post-registration rights management and risk prevention rules that applicants must master.
Before submitting a trademark application to DSEDT, applicants must complete two core pre-filing procedures: trademark registry search and priority document preparation.Article 209 of the Macao Industrial Property Code stipulates six-month Paris Convention priority rights: If an applicant has filed a trademark application in any Paris Convention member country, they may claim priority for the Macao application within six months from the original filing dateMacau Inte.... To successfully claim priority, applicants must clearly fill in the original application number, filing date and country on the Macao application form, and submit a certified copy of the foreign priority application to DSEDT within three months after Macao filing; failure to submit materials within the time limit will result in automatic forfeiture of priority rights.
Macao adopts a strict one trademark, one class single filing system (Article 204 of the Industrial Property Code). Multi-class combined filing is completely prohibited; applicants planning to register trademarks covering multiple Nice Classification goods/services must submit separate independent applications for each class, pay separate official filing fees of 1,000 MOP per class, and each application undergoes independent formal and substantive examination澳門特別行.... Each basic single-class application allows up to 20 standard goods or service items free of additional charges; extra items beyond 20 will incur supplementary official fees.
Foreign applicants without Macao local residential addresses or registered legal entities must appoint qualified local agents for filing. Eligible agents include Macao registered lawyers, Macao permanent resident individuals or Macao incorporated legal persons. A notarized Power of Attorney with certified Chinese/Portuguese translation must be attached to the application documents; incomplete notarization materials will lead to direct rejection at the formal review stage澳門特別行....
The full Macao trademark registration process is divided into formal examination, official gazette opposition period, substantive examination and registration issuance, with a total average cycle of 6 months for applications without oppositions and complete materials澳門特別行....
1. Formal examination (1–2 months after submission): Examiners verify the completeness of application forms, trademark samples, classification accuracy, agent authorization documents and fee payment vouchers. If formal defects are found, applicants receive a written rectification notice with a 2-month non-extendable rectification period. Failure to fully correct all defects before the deadline results in automatic abandonment of the trademark application.
2. Official Gazette publication & 2-month opposition window: After passing formal review, all trademark application information is published in the Official Gazette of the Macao SAR. The statutory opposition period lasts exactly two calendar months with no extensions permitted for any reason. Any natural person or legal entity with legitimate legal interests may file a written opposition with supporting evidence and pay an opposition official fee of 800 MOP, challenging the trademark’s registrability on grounds of prior rights, lack of distinctiveness or deceptive descriptionsMacau Inte....
3. Substantive examination: If no opposition is filed or the opposition is dismissed by DSEDT examiners, the application enters substantive review. Examiners conduct dual-layer review: absolute refusal grounds (descriptive marks, offensive symbols, national emblems, functional product shapes) and relative refusal grounds (conflicts with prior registered trademarks, pending applications and well-known marks protected cross-class under Article 230 of the Industrial Property Code)World Inte....
4. Registration issuance and certificate collection: Applications passing all examinations receive formal registration approval. Applicants pay the registration fee, after which DSEDT issues an official Macao Trademark Registration Certificate recording the complete trademark information, registration date and seven-year protection term.
Article 66 of the Macao Industrial Property Code clearly defines trademark assignment formalities: Registered trademark ownership may be assigned for compensation or free of charge, independent of the transfer of business premises and operating assets. The transfer of business goodwill is presumed to include trademark assignment unless a written exclusion clause is agreed by both partiesWorld Inte.... Any trademark assignment (whether for pending applications or fully registered trademarks) requires submission of the “Application Form of Request for Other Actions (ECO-052)” to DSEDT, accompanied by a notarized assignment agreement and identity documents of both assignor and assignee, with an official assignment fee of 200 MOP payable upon filing. The assignment only takes effect against third parties after DSEDT completes the registration annotation and publishes the assignment record in the Official Gazette; unregistered assignments cannot resist claims from third-party creditors or subsequent trademark transfereesWorld Inte....
Trademark proprietors may grant exclusive, non-exclusive or sole exploitation licenses to third parties covering all or partial goods/services under the registered mark. Similar to assignment procedures, licensing must be filed for annotation at DSEDT with the ECO-052 form, a signed licensing contract and a 200 MOP official licensing fee. Without administrative annotation, the licensee cannot assert trademark rights against infringers in civil litigation or administrative enforcement procedures澳門特別行....
Article 71 of the Industrial Property Code stipulates the 7-year exclusive protection term: Macao registered trademarks enjoy a seven-year protection term calculated from the registration approval date, and unlimited renewal applications are allowed with each renewed term also seven years澳門特別行.... Renewal applications must be submitted within the last six months before the expiry date, with a standard renewal official fee of 2,000 MOP. A six-month post-expiry grace period is available for late renewal, but applicants must pay an additional 500 MOP surcharge for the grace period filing. If the renewal application is not submitted within six months after expiry, the trademark registration automatically lapses and becomes invalid; re-protection requires a brand-new trademark filing with full official fees and re-examination procedures澳門特別行.... After DSEDT approves the renewal, a renewal annotation will be printed on the original trademark registration certificate and published in the Official Gazette of the Macao SAR.
Article 231 of the Macao Industrial Property Code establishes the three-year non-use cancellation mechanism: If a registered trademark has not been put into genuine commercial use within Macao territory for three consecutive years without legitimate justifications, any interested third party may submit a forfeiture application to DSEDT to fully or partially cancel the trademark registration广州市市场.... Once a non-use cancellation application is accepted, DSEDT will issue a notice to the trademark proprietor, granting a 2-month response period to submit credible trademark use evidence within Macao, including commercial sales contracts, sales invoices, local advertising materials, exhibition participation records, product packaging samples bearing the registered trademark. If the proprietor fails to submit valid use evidence or reasonable non-use justifications (such as force majeure, industrial production suspension due to government regulatory orders) within the response period, DSEDT will issue a forfeiture ruling to cancel the trademark registration. A supplementary legal risk rule is the laches principle under Article 221 of the Industrial Property Code: If a trademark proprietor knowingly tolerates the continuous use of a later conflicting registered trademark for three consecutive years, the proprietor loses the right to file a cancellation action against the later mark, unless the later trademark was filed in bad faith广州市市场....
Macao fully implements the Paris Convention well-known trademark protection standards under Article 45 of the Industrial Property Code. Well-known marks recognized within Macao SAR enjoy cross-class protection beyond their registered Nice Classification goods/services. Any application that reproduces, imitates or translates a well-known mark to apply on dissimilar goods/services, which may take unfair advantage of the well-known mark’s reputation or damage its distinctiveness, will be rejected during examination or cancelled post-registration upon opposition or invalidation filing澳門特別行....
For trademark infringement acts occurring within Macao’s territorial scope, registered trademark owners have two remedy channels: civil tort litigation filed with the Macao Court of First Instance to claim economic loss compensation and permanent court injunctions to cease infringing production and sales; or administrative complaint filing with DSEDT market supervision division to launch administrative investigation, order seizure and destruction of all infringing goods, packaging and production molds, and impose administrative fines against infringing entities and individuals.
1.IPcrossark：https://www.ipcrossark.com/en/trademark.html?cid=46
2.DSEDT official English trademark administrative procedure page (assignment, licensing, renewal forms): https://www.dsedt.gov.mo/en_US/web/public/pg_ip_ap?slug=ps-1314c澳門特別行...
3.WIPO WIPOLEX full authorized text of Macao Industrial Property Code (trademark assignment, renewal, non-use cancellation clauses): https://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/text/128754World Inte...
4.DSEDT intellectual property official FAQ page (trademark priority, agent, renewal and cancellation rules): https://www.dsedt.gov.mo/en/web/public/pg_ip_faq?_refresh=true澳門特別行...
