Tagged with: Trade marks

Q&A I – Ex-Yu: Basics on TM protection protocol Each month we answer 3-5 questions our clients most often have and share it in our Q&A series.    Q: How…

Starting this February, Republic of Serbia has changed their Trade Mark Law substantially by switching to an opposition based system rather than the one where the IPO examined all applications ex officio for absolute and relative grounds for refusal.

Lately, we have been noticing two increasing trends – filing of TM applications identical to large brands that have not yet broken into the market and cancellations due to non-use of otherwise known trade marks.

Licence can refer to patent and design rights, related know-how and trade marks.

It provides the licensee with the right to use an IP right for a certain period of time, for a fee, usually in a specific geographic area. At the same time, this allows the IP right’s owner to extend their brand into new markets quicker, to generate profit (through set fee or royalty), reduce costs and time to market penetration and therefore, often, gain competitive advantage.

We take this opportunity to inform you about upcoming forum held by our Customs IP department which will enable the brand owners to hold presentations directly before enforcement agents on our borders.

This event is immensely valuable as it will provide an opportunity to inform the people directly tasked with deciding if the goods before them should or should not be seized based on possible IP infringement – how to spot original or fake goods.

We have previously written about the importance of the annual Custom’s  petition and, for the new readers, wanted to shortly again sum up the important points:

Tips on overcoming Provisional Refusals based on relative grounds in Republic of Serbia

Most jurisdictions our office covers (Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Slovenia) are based on the opposition system – new applications are examined on absolute grounds, then published, and open for 3rd party oppositions based on relative grounds.

Here are a few details to keep in mind when filing national applications/designations:

While most jurisdictions we cover are members of the Madrid protocol ,Kosovo, for the time being is not. As a very small territory, it is often overlooked, but can prove strategically important for the companies that have interest in the Balkans area.

Enforcement and IP protection go hand in hand.

Important part of the enforcement strategy is a solid plan for seizure matters, especially in the Balkans region, where many trade routes intersect.

Our answer is the MIHAILOVIC 360° enforcement program eligible for the Republic of Serbia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, FYRO Macedonia and Montenegro.