Issue 084
  December 2017
Contents:
 

IP Legal Updates in China - report

>  
 

Meet the Judges in Portugal

>  
 

Handy guide to notice and take down procedures

>  
 

MARQUES review of 2017

>  
 

Seasons Greetings from MARQUES

>  
 

Webinar on social media

>  
 

EU Commission publishes IP initiatives

>  
 

Latest news from EUIPO

>  
 

Representation of new types of marks

>  
 

China tops patent, trade mark and design filings

>  
 

Russia ratifies Hague Agreement

>  
 

Trade mark changes coming on 1 January 2018

>  
 
Disclaimer:
The views expressed by contributors to this newsletter are their own and do not necessarily reflect the policy and/or opinions of MARQUES and/or its membership.  Information is published only as a guide and not as a comprehensive authority on any of the subjects covered.  While every effort has been made to ensure the information given is accurate and not misleading neither MARQUES nor the contributors can accept any responsibility for any loss or liability perceived to have arisen from the use or application of any such information or for errors and omissions.  Readers are strongly advised to follow up articles of interest with quoted sources and specialist advisors.
 

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IP Legal Updates in China - report

 

MARQUES held its first event in Beijing in November. Titled “IP Legal Updates in China”, it featured presentations and discussions involving Chinese judges, lawyers and officials specialising in trade marks

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Meet the Judges in Portugal

 

 

MARQUES held its first Meet the Judges event in Portugal on 6 December, with about 45 people attending the meeting at the Museu do Oriente in Lisbon

Read More >>
Handy guide to notice and take down procedures

The MARQUES Anti-Counterfeiting and Parallel Trade Team has published a paper summarising the IP protection procedures available on 30 of the most popular internet platforms and social media sites

Read More >>
MARQUES review of 2017

 

 


What has MARQUES been doing in 2017? Download and read the annual Achievements List to find out about events, meetings, publications, engagement with IP offices and much more!

Read More >>

Seasons Greetings from MARQUES

 

Webinar on social media

The MARQUES Secretariat will be closed during the festive period from 1pm on 22 December to 9am on 2 January. We wish Seasons Greetings to all members and their families!

 

MARQUES will be hosting a webinar titled “Social Media Back to Basics: ‘Food’ for Thoughts” on 31 January, starting at 3pm CET/2pm GMT

Read More >>   Read More >>
EU Commission publishes IP initiatives

 

 

On 29 November the Commission announced a range of measures to ensure that IP rights are well protected, including measures to step up the fight against counterfeiting and piracy

Read More >>
Latest news from EUIPO


No more faxes; IP Case Law Conference and the latest news on Designview and TMview – here’s all the key developments in the past month from EUIPO

Read More >>
Representation of new types of marks

Robert Guthrie, Chair of the MARQUES European Trade Mark Law and Practice Team, brings news of a Common Communication on the representation of new types of trade marks


A Common Communication on the representation of new types of marks was published by the European Trade Mark & Design Network on 4 December.

The Common Communication sets out how each national office, the Benelux Office and the EUIPO plan to implement the removal of the graphic representation requirement from EU trade mark law and in particular what new types of marks and what electronic file formats they plan to accept.

As most Member States have not yet finalised their national legislation through which the new Trade Mark Directive will be implemented the Communication itself points out that it:

serves merely as a compilation to inform about the understanding reached among the Member States IPOs and has no legally binding effect on the national legislative procedure of the Member States. Nor shall it be read and interpreted as containing specific undertakings by Member States that would limit their freedom to make their own choices within the framework of the provisions of the new Trade Mark Directive.

MARQUES understands that one of the key drivers behind the preparation and adoption of the Common Communication is to try and ensure that the implementation of the removal of the graphic representation requirement is harmonised, as much as possible, with the approach already adopted in the EUTM Implementing Regulation and by the EUIPO.

MARQUES is supportive of this aim, so that brand owners can apply and register the same types of marks using the same electronic file formats across the EU.

MARQUES members and other interested readers might like to note the following aspects of the Common Communication:

  • The intention is that it is updated regularly, as the positions of the national offices advance, with the first update scheduled for 1 June 2018.
  • Almost all national offices (and the Benelux Office) have indicated that they intend to follow the definitions for the various types of marks that are set out in Article 3 of the EUTM Implementing Regulation – Word, Figurative, Shape, Position, Pattern, Colour, Sound, Motion, Multimedia, Hologram and Other – and accept all of these types of marks. The only exceptions are Denmark (which has not confirmed its position) and the UK (which has indicated that it will accept such marks but that it regards trade mark type as an aid to administration and does not seek to define types per se).
  • Almost all national offices have indicated that they will accept (at least) the following electronic file formats: Sound (JPEG, MP3), Motion (JPEG, MP4), Multimedia (MP4), Hologram (JPEG, MP4). The exceptions are Denmark, the UK and Slovakia (which have not confirmed their position). Several offices have indicated that they will also accept other electronic file formats.

 

Robert Guthrie is a partner of Osborne Clarke in London and chairs the MARQUES ETMLP Team. This article was first published on the Class 46 blog on 7 December 2017

China tops patent, trade mark and design filings

Worldwide demand for IP rights reached record levels in 2016, driven by demand from China, according to the annual WIPO World Intellectual Property Indicators report

Read More >>

Russia ratifies Hague Agreement

 

Trade mark changes coming on 1 January 2018

The Russian Federation has deposited its instrument of ratification of the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs

 

WIPO has announced that Madrid Monitor becomes the only tool for tracking international trade mark applications or registrations, and a new version of the 11th edition of the Nice Classification will enter into force

Read More >>   Read More >>

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