Trademarks

From the 19 to the 23 of May, Seattle received INTA’s 140th Annual Meeting, that brought together about 11,000 Intellectual Property (IP) professionals. The increasing importance of trademarks and brands to consumers, companies, and the global economy was at the core of the debate.

Besides attending the conference Inventa International also had a booth in the exhibitors where the company’s team members presented its IP solutions for Africa.

After 61 years of no substantial revisions to Malawi’s trademark legal framework, 2016 was the year when a new and fresh trademark Bill has been finally drafted and formally published in the country’s Government Gazette in order to notify the public that the matters subjected in the diploma would be up for debate in Malawi’s Parliament.

The Patent and Trademark Office of Rwanda has released an announcement stating that existing trademark registrations under Law 31/2009 of October 2009, effective from 14th December 2009 are required to be renewed within the new deadline of 14th of December, 2019.

Before Law 31/2009 of October 2009, there was no provision for the renewal of trademarks and therefore, there are no lapsed trademarks in this jurisdiction up until this date. At this moment, every trademark registered from 1904 up until 2009 is required to be renewed in 2019.

OAPI has adopted the 11th Nice Edition – version of 2018. The Organization had already accepted the 2017 version, which was effective up until 31st March 2018. The new version has been effective from 1st day of April, 2018.

To provide you an overview on the DIU’s matter, it is important to know that, in practical terms, the DIU is a simple declaration that shall be signed by the applicant or responsible agent and that shall contain the relevant data of the applicant and of the registration at stake (as we will explain further on). In accordance with the national IP law’s article no. 165, Decree-Law 4/2007 of 20th August, this declaration must be filed in respect to trademarks every 5 years, counting from the date of registration.

On March 26, the General Director of WIPO announced with satisfaction the adherence of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to the Madrid Protocol.

The Madrid system makes possible for a trademark to be registered by any applicant through a single application in all countries that are part of this agreement.

Some of the main changes relating to trademarks in Mexico, approved last month, introduce more flexibility on the registration requirements.

The “Brexit” referendum took place a year and a half ago and the terms for the withdrawal began being formally discussed since March last year. Intellectual Property rights had to be - rightly so - part of the debate.

In the light of EU and UK Government’s most recent draft agreement on the country’s withdrawal from the European Union - published March 19th - provisions were made on the protection and enforcement of IP rights, to be of effect after the end of the transitional period.

In view of the work we have been providing over the years to our clients and partners, we have been distinguished as "Recommended Firm 2018" in Portugal by the Trademark Lawyer.

We believe this distinction reflects our daily commitment in innovating and providing high quality services.

We deeply appreciate our clients and partners for believing in our work!

The ranking can be found here: https://goo.gl/FVXa3z .

An agreement was made between the European Union and the United Kingdom, regarding the Brexit and its implications on Intellectual Property.

It was established that after the Brexit’s transition period ends (December 31st of 2020), the owners of Commmunity Designs and European Union Trademarks will have their rights protected in the UK.

The owners of the above trademarks shall, “without any re-examination, become the holders of a comparable registered and enforceable in IP right in the UK”.