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News Channel
Issue: May 2009
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MARQUES joins LinkedIn |
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MARQUES
has established a group on LinkedIn for its members. The
MARQUES
LinkedIn Group provides members a chance to network and discuss current
issues with other members.
If you are a member of
MARQUES
and already have a LinkedIn identity then
click here to join our group.
If you are not already on LinkedIn you can register for FREE by
clicking here |
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"intent-to-use" Japan JPO |
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During the
MARQUES
Winter Meeting held in February 2009 in Venice, a question came up from one
of our members with regard to the intention to use the mark required by the
Japan Patent Office (JPO).
MARQUES
has gathered some information in order to clarify this practice and is in a
position to inform its members on the following:
This new practice regarding the intent-to-use requirement came into effect
on April 1, 2007. The JPO requires the applicant to submit a prescribed
document in those cases where a trademark evidently is not intended for use.
The JPO has published some guidelines so as to clarify when the
intent-to-use requirement is not fulfilled. Such cases include the
following: lack of connection with the goods or services pertaining to the
business of an applicant, designation of general retail services or
wholesale services for a variety of goods and fields, designation of goods
or services that ranges widely in one classification, etc.
The JPO has described the procedures to ascertain the use or intention of
use of a trademark, which may be reviewed at the JPO's website under
http://www.jpo.go.jp/tetuzuki_e/t_tokkyo_e/pdf/tt1303-061_3_6.pdf.
It shall be noted that this practice also applies with regard to
designations of Japan contained in international registrations, and thus the
trademark might be judged not to fall within the category of trademarks
registrable in Japan unless the evidence to support the use or intent-to-use
is properly submitted |
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Founders of Pirate Bay convicted of copyright infringement |
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The website Pirate Bay was launched in November 2003 by a group of four
Swedish guys. Pirate Bay is the largest independent bit torrent file sharing
community in the world and the website has more than 25 million "peers" and
thus a potential of 25 million suppliers of infringing material at any given
time.
Pirate Bay has been one of the most popular websites in the world over the
past 5-6 years. The reason for this impressive popularity rating is the fact
that Pirate Bay has supplied its users with access to millions of links to
music, movies, books, computer games etc.
The Pirate Bay website appears to be a simple search engine and can provide
the users with millions of links provided by the 25 million peers. The
search function is just as simple as many of the commonly used search
engines, however, the results you get when you enter a search word is much
different. Millions of links provide the 25 million peers with easy access
to copyright protected material and in a recent decision (April 17th 2009)
the Stockholm City Court ruled that the owners of Pirate Bay has aided in
ongoing copyright infringement. The four founders were sentenced to 1 year
imprisonment and furthermore had to pay SEK 30 million (EUR 2,8 million) in
damages to the right holders.
All four Pirate Bay defendants have appealed the Stockholm City court
decision and thus a new trial is awaiting. Whether or not the right holders
will appeal the decision regarding the awarded damages has not been decided
as of yet. |
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Details of all
MARQUES events and conferences are
published on the MARQUES website at
http://www.marques.org/conferences |
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Amsterdam2009
17 June 2009 |
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Customs Seminar
More Bang for your Buck
MARQUES
is holding a one day seminar which will focus on current changes in laws and
practices in various jurisdictions as well as show practical examples of the
progress achieved.
For further details and online registration visit [http://www.marques.org/Elink?ID=0062] |
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Brighton2009
15-18 September 2009 |
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Sustainable
Brands
A Luxury or a Necessity?
The 23rd
MARQUES
Annual Conference
will be held in Brighton, U K from Tuesday 15th to Friday 18th September
2009 and will look at the importance of aligning brands with long term
sustainable business policies. Topics will include working with
charities and environmental brands, environmental issues, transport, people
& HR policies as well as food and health claims.
For Full
details and online registration visit [http://www.marques.org/Elink?ID=0063]
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Cyberspace Team |
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ICANN Team Recommends Enhanced Rights Protection |
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ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names & Numbers, has embarked
upon a process that could see up to 500 New gTLD (generic Top Level Domain)
registries created from early 2010 onwards. However, following the concerns
expressed by literally hundreds of organisations including MARQUES about the
impact of the process on the rights of others, the ICANN Board created an
Implementation Recommendation Team (IRT) to consider whether standardised
Rights Protection Mechanisms (RPM) could reduce the financial and
administrative burden on rights owners. On 24 April 2009, the IRT, which is
composed of 15 experts in on-line rights protection including MARQUES
Council Member Nick Wood, published its first report for comments. A final
report which takes account of these comments will be sent to the ICANN Board
on 30 May 2009.
The measures proposed by the IRT include:
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An IP Clearinghouse or centralised database of verified IPR so that rights
owners do not need to have data validated time and time again at new
registries.
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A Uniform Rapid Suspension System (URS) to work upstream of the UDRP for
cases where infringement cannot be denied. This could see a domain name
frozen by a complainant within as short time frame for a very modest fee.
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The creation of a Globally Protected Marks List to block registration of
such terms.
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An “IP Claims” type service to inform an applicant for a term that matches
a record in the IP Clearinghouse that there is the danger of them
infringing a mark if they go ahead with a registration.
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Variations on a proposal made by WIPO to make registry operators liable
for contributory infringement.
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A “Thick” new gTLD Whois containing up to date information at one
centralised point
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An effective way of using the algorithm developed by ICANN to assess
“string contention” at the top level, including the consideration of the
aural and commercial impression (meaning) created by a string
For further details, see
http://www.icann.com/en/announcements/announcement-24apr09-en.htm.
The
MARQUES
Cyberspace Team will be submitting comments on these recommendations and
suggests that
MARQUES
members might also comment in an individual capacity. All that is required
is a simple e-mail in support of further RPM. There is a danger that these
proposed measures will be abandoned by the ICANN Board unless there is
support for them as the community of domainers who want unrestricted
expansion of the domain name system is already voicing significant
opposition. |
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China Team |
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National IP Strategy |
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The
National IP Strategy was released in June 2008 to set out China’s broader
objectives on IP protection. It contains five sections: preface, guiding
principles and strategic goals, strategic focuses, specific tasks and
strategic measures. The preface underlines the importance of IP in the
development of China’s knowledge economy and international competitiveness.
The guiding principles and strategic goals section outlines China’s
short-term goals and long-term aim to become one of the world’s most
innovative countries. Strategic focuses include reforming laws and enhancing
judicial powers. Efforts will also be made to promote IP awareness amongst
the whole society. Specific tasks contain directions to patents, trademarks,
copyright, trade secrets, new varieties of plants, IP in specific areas and
national defence. Amongst the nine strategic measures outlined, one
significant measure would be to consider establishing specialized IP courts
and appellate courts. It is noted that in April 2009, several issues of the
Strategy were elaborated in the “Comments of the Supreme People’s Court on
Implementing the National IP Strategy”. These policy documents are seen as a
significant step forward to promote and develop the use of IP in China. |
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New Cases Available |
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MARQUES
is pleased to inform its members that this months selection of cases, drawn
from pan-European and national tribunals, has been added to the Case
Database. This months cases include The Body Shop v Men's Body
Shop, Microsoft Corp and Microsoft Italia S.r.l v Reporting Software S.r.l
and Vincenzo Scardino and others as well as Pinewood Laboratories Limited v
May and Baker Limited in which COZITAN is ruled to be insufficiently similar
to NOZINAN so as to result in a likelihood of confusion.
[http://www.marques.org/Elink?ID=0061]. |
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MARQUES,
840 Melton Road, Thurmaston, Leicester, LE4 8BN, United Kingdom
Tel: +44
116 264 0080, Fax: +44 116 264 0141, Email: info@marques.org, URL: http://www.marques.org
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