Solicitor for Intellectual Property Law in Valletta

I have a registered trademark in Malta for my brand, and I’ve recently noticed a competitor operating locally under a name that sounds and looks quite similar to mine, enough that I’ve had customers genuinely confuse the two. What can I actually do to stop this?

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.

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’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 run a small creative business in Malta and I produce a lot of original content, photos, written material, and designs, myself. I want to understand whether I automatically own the copyright to everything I personally create, or whether I need to formally register something for this protection to actually exist.

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’m considering applying for a patent in Malta for a genuine technical invention I’ve developed. I want to understand how long the resulting protection would actually last, and whether I can simply keep renewing it indefinitely to maintain protection long-term.

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.