Trademarks

The Department of Intellectual Property of the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of Laos has issued a notice in which it informs that it will be allowing Multi-Class applications for trademarks as from the 1st of February of 2016.

The Notice No. 57/MOST.DIP. underlines the advantages of applying a multi-class application compared to the previous single-class system. Such as:

The case that opposed an individual against the German company Breiding mbH is still fresh. This case was the result of a request for a preliminary ruling regarding the interpretation of article 23(1) of Council Regulation (EC) No 207/2009 of 26 February 2009 on the Community trade mark (hereinafter “Community Trade Mark Regulation”).

The Coca-Cola Company has been trying to register the trademark ZERO for its low calorie, zero sugar version of Coca-Cola, but is facing opposition from Dr Pepper Snapple Group (known for SCHWEPPES), although a decision from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is expected during this year.

The new European Union Regulation no. 2015/2424 (article 28) that is introducing a new set of rules for community trademarks, including its own renaming (to European Union Trademark), is allowing owners of community trademarks applied for before 22 June 2012 to change (boost) the list of goods or services, without requiring the payment of an additional official fee.

The Trademark Office in Gaza has issued a Ministerial Decision (No. 16 of 2010) on the 1st of August 2010 stating that it is no longer possible to file new trademark applications in class 32 covering beers and lager, nor is it possible to renew trademarks that are already registered covering the same items.

The Trademark Office has reiterated its Decision on prohibiting the goods stated above on a recently published notification.

The harmonisation of intellectual property laws has been a long-standing project for the six Gulf Cooperation Council (hereinafter GCC) states. Attentions are focused on when the law will come into force.

The six countries that form the GCC (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) have been harmonising a trademark law since the 1980s. Several other concepts have been drafted during the following years, but none has actually been enforced.

As previously reported by our team at Inventa International, the European Union is set to modernize its Trademark System and new developments have occurred.

Past December 24, 2015, Regulation no. 2015/2424 of the European Parliament and the Council was fully published in the Official Journal of the European Union which means that the changes to European Union’s trademark system are entering into force on March 23, 2016.

Apart from the usual problems inherent in the registration of a trademark, applying for a trademark in China implies even additional hurdles for IP stakeholders. These added problems are not at all related to the “first to file” principle, which applies in most of the jurisdictions in the world and means that in order to be protected, the trademark must be registered, and not by relying on existing unregistered trademark rights.

Inventa International informs that the Libyan Registrar has confirmed that it would be possible to submit renewal applications for expired trademarks regardless of their expiry date until the 31st of December, 2015.

All expired trademarks that fail to proceed with this action on the stated date will be handled as if they were cancelled from the 1st of January, 2016.

To submit renewal applications or obtaining certificates, applicants are required to provide the following:

The Republic of Gambia becomes the last country (and the 21st African country) to integrate the Madrid Protocol. By joining the Madrid System, related to the international registration of trademarks, from 18th of December 2015, it will be possible to designate the country in international trademark applications via the Madrid System.