Issue 057
  September 2015
Contents:
 

Ten highlights from the Annual Conference 2015

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Discussing dispute resolution in Singapore

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A letter to MARQUES members from WIPO

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Two more judges meetings announced

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MARQUES Media Roundup

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CP3 – Distinctiveness of figurative marks available

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Turkey’s national strategy and action plan for GIs

>  
 

Seminar on the Hague System on 19th November

>  
 

TMview and Designview expand

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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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Ten highlights from the Annual Conference 2015

With three packed days of presentations and workshops, some remarkable venues and lots of busy networking, it was a memorable 29th MARQUES Annual Conference. HouseMARQUES selects a few highlights.

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Discussing dispute resolution in Singapore

Nearly 40 people attended the recent MARQUES event on protecting trade marks with arbitration and domain name UDRP in Singapore, with some coming from as far away as India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and California.

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A letter to MARQUES members from WIPO

MARQUES is pleased to share with members a letter received from the WIPO team following this year’s Annual Conference.

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Two more judges meetings announced

 

MARQUES Media Roundup

MARQUES has published details of judges meetings to be held in The Hague and Munich.

 

Water toys, golden bears and Jack Daniel’s were just a few of the topics being discussed on the MARQUES blogs Class 46 and Class 99 over the past month.

Read More >>   Read More >>
CP3 – Distinctiveness of figurative marks available

OHIM is continuing to work along with IP offices across Europe to increase convergence of IP practices. The latest fruit of this labour is the most recently endorsed Common Practice document, CP3: ‘Distinctiveness – Figurative marks containing descriptive/non-distinctive words'.


OHIM and IP offices in Europe are determined to make sure they apply their common legal framework for trade marks in a manner that fosters clarity, quality and usability.

Often, defining the threshold for cases when a mark with descriptive/non-distinctive words can pass the absolute grounds test because the figurative element renders sufficient distinctive character can be challenging. What’s more, this inherently complicated situation was previously exacerbated by the fact that Europe’s national and regional IP offices followed highly divergent approaches. The Common Practice is evidence of the benefits cooperation has to reducing this headache for users.

Equally important is the way in which CP3 complements CP5: ‘Relative Grounds – Likelihood of Confusion (Impact of non-distinctive/weak components)’, enabling convergence in the way figurative marks containing non-distinctive words are, on the one hand, examined for absolute grounds and, on the other hand, assessed within the context of the examination of likelihood of confusion.   

The Common Practice can be found here in 23 official European Union languages. To facilitate comprehensive understanding of the Common Practice, a complete set of Frequently Asked Questions have been made be available in the same webpage, while training material will follow shortly.

The Common Communication on CP3 will be published on the websites of all the implementing IP offices on 2nd October.

More information about CP3, and MARQUES input, can be found in the two position papers published on the MARQUES website.

Source: OHIM

Turkey’s national strategy and action plan for GIs

In a follow up to last month’s article, Özlem Fütman of the MARQUES GI Team discusses Turkey’s GI roadmap for 2015 to 2018.

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Seminar on the Hague System on 19th November

 

TMview and Designview expand

WIPO is hosting a seminar on the Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs in Geneva on 19th November.

  Data from Canada has been added to TMview, while Designview now includes data from Canada, China and the US.
Read More >>   Read More >>

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