Bangladesh is a signatory of Paris Convention for Protection of Industrial Property since March 1991 and of the TRIPS Agreement since January 1995. Bangladesh primarily follows the international classification of goods and services under the NICE Agreement. Due to the virtue of the Agreement, the NICE classifications namely Class 01-45 are used in Bangladesh. Currently the Trademarks Act 2009 as amended in 2015 and the Trademarks Rules 2015 are in force. In Bangladesh, trademarks are handled by Department of Patents, Designs and Trademarks under the Ministry of Industry.      

Upon making the trademark application, it approximately takes about 2 (two) – 3 (three) years to be examined and the examination report to be ready. In the event an objection is made by the examiner, the applicant shall clear the objection. Upon the satisfaction of the examiner, the mark than shall proceed to be published in the journal upon the payment of prescribed fees within the stipulated timeline. Upon the applicant’s failure to clear the objection/s, the application shall stand abandoned. 

An opposition against the mark maybe filed within 2 (two) months of the publication of the same in the journal. Upon completion of 2 (two) months of the journal publication and making payment of the prescribed trademark registration fee, the applicant may receive the trademark registration certificate. 

A trademark registration is valid first valid for 7 (seven) years, after each it must be renewed subject to payment of renewal fees. Each subsequent registration is valid for further 10 (ten) years.  
The Trademarks Act 2009 recognizes the common law the concept of “passing off” which may be used to enforce unregistered trademark rights to prevent a party from misrepresenting the goods or services as that of another. Following the Paris Convention and TRIPS Agreement, the Trademark Act 2009 allows civil and criminal remedies for trademark infringement.