Tonga's Industrial Property Act ("Act") came into effect in 2000

The Act provides for the protection and registration of independent applications for patents, trade marks and industrial designs.

The Act provided that all trade mark applications or registrations filed under previous registrations had to be re-registered within 12 months of entry into force of the Act.

Such applications were accorded the filing or priority date of the former application or registration.

Tongan trade mark applications take around 1-2 years to register.

The records of the Tongan Trade Mark Office are not computerized. Searches can be carried out manually on a class by class basis.