Solicitor for Intellectual Property Law in Bormla

I own a registered trademark in Malta and I’ve been approached by another company interested in using my brand under a licensing arrangement rather than me operating it myself in a particular context. What’s actually involved in properly setting up a trademark licence, and does anything need to be formally registered?

I registered a trademark in Malta a few years ago and I vaguely recall something about needing to renew it periodically, but I’m not entirely sure of the timeline or what would actually happen to my protection if I simply forgot or missed a renewal deadline.

I’ve developed what I believe is an innovative new business method for how I structure and deliver a particular type of service. I’m wondering whether this kind of business method, rather than a physical invention, is actually something I could protect through a patent in Malta.

I’m in the process of preparing a trademark application in Malta, but I’m now concerned that a different, unrelated business might file a very similar application around the same time. I want to understand how this kind of overlapping claim would actually be resolved under Maltese trademark law.

I’ve developed a physical product with what I believe is a genuinely distinctive visual design, separate from its brand name or any technical function. I understand trademarks protect brand names and logos, but I want to know what actually protects the distinctive shape and appearance of the product itself.

I’ve been using various images I found online labelled as ‘royalty-free’ or ‘free to use’ for marketing materials for my business in Malta, without paying anything or tracking exactly where each image came from. I’m now wondering whether I’ve actually been doing this properly, or whether I could be at risk of a copyright claim.

Beyond my brand name and logo, I also use a specific catchy slogan consistently across my marketing in Malta, and I’d like to know whether a short phrase like this can actually be registered as a trademark in its own right, separate from my main brand name.

I sell an accessory product in Malta that is specifically designed to be compatible with a well-known, trademarked brand of device, and I want to clearly communicate this compatibility to customers by referencing that brand name on my packaging, along the lines of ‘compatible with’ the trademarked product. Is this kind of reference to another company’s trademark actually permitted?