Now in its twelfth year, Class 46 is dedicated to European trade mark law and practice. This weblog is written by a team of enthusiasts who want to spread the word and share their thoughts with others.
Click here subscribe for free.
Who we all are...
Serbia's new GI law: some details
Serbia's new Law on Geographical Indications entered into force in Serbia on 3 April 2010. It provides that Intellectual Property Office (IPO) decisions are now to be appealed to the government and, beyond that, to the Administrative Court (previously the IPO’s first-instance administrative decisions were final and the parties could initiate only administrative disputes before the court). You have to be quick to appeal, though: you've only got 15 days from the IPO's decision in which to do so.
The new law treats certain geographical designations as appellations of origin where the raw materials for the products in question come from a geographical area larger than or different from the processing area, provided that: the production area of the raw materials is defined, the special conditions for the production of the raw materials exist and that inspection arrangements are made to ensure that the special conditions for the production of the raw materials have been met. The old law required that the production, processing and preparation should take place in a defined geographical area only for the appellations of origin, while the new law prescribes this condition for both appellations of origin and geographical indications.
The new law provides that names cannot be protected as the indications of geographical origin where such protection may cause confusion on the market. In addition, an indication of geographical origin cannot be used to protect a name that is identical or confusingly similar to a prior trade mark registration, if there is risk of creating confusion on the market, taking into the account the reputation and the period of use of such trade mark registration.
The new law prescribes that the registered user, or the applicant seeking the recognition of the status of the registered user for agricultural products and foodstuffs, may apply for registration of a Community Indication of Geographical Origin under the relevant EU regulations. The Community application is also considered as a ground for examination of the national base application in an expedited procedure. The new law explicitly prescribes that the provisions concerning substantive examination procedure do not apply to the procedure concerning international applications filed under the Lisbon Agreement. According to the new Law, a preliminary injunction can be filed before a lawsuit, provided that the lawsuit is filed within 30 days from the date the court issues the decision on the preliminary injunction. The former law prescribed a shorter deadline of 15 days.
Source: PETOSEVIC website here, from which further information concerning the new law may be obtained.
Posted by: Blog Administrator @ 05.56Tags: Serbia, GIs,
Sharing on Social Media? Use the link below...Perm-A-Link: https://www.marques.org/blogs/class46?XID=BHA1830
