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More Cooperation Fund projects go live
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A suite of tools making up the Cooperation Fund were switched on last month. The Fund includes 17 projects in total. More than half of these are now operational, with further developments expected next year.
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New goods and services in CTM e-filing
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Seniority project grows
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As of 15 October 2012, OHIM has introduced a new provisional feature in the section on goods and services in the electronic Community trade mark application form. The feature allows applicants, who have selected the Class Heading for a particular class, to tick a box indicating they wish to be covered for all the goods or services in the alphabetical list of the Nice Classification.
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The National Office of Slovenia and the Benelux Office of Intellectual Property (BOIP) have become the fifth and sixth offices to implement the Cooperation Fund seniority project. They join Ireland, Hungary, Portugal and the Czech Republic in the implementation of this project.
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Liaison Meeting on Trade Marks
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MARQUES attended the Eighth Liaison Meeting on Trade Marks which was held in Alicante on 10 and 11 October 2012, represented by Diana Versteeg, first Vice-Chair of MARQUES Council and Alessandra Romeo, MARQUES External Relations Officer.
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TM5 Meeting held in Barcelona
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 In its observer status at the OHIM Administrative Board and Budget Committee, MARQUES was invited by OHIM to attend the TM5 Meeting which took place in Barcelona on 30 and 31 October 2012. The MARQUES delegation was composed of Alessandra Romeo, MARQUES External Relations Officer, and Sebastian Fischoeder, a member of the MARQUES Designs Team.
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New OHIM website project and Convergence Programme projects
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 Sofia Martinez, second Vice-Chair of MARQUES Trade Mark Law and Practice Team, attended the third and last meeting of the Working Group of the new OHIM website project held in Alicante on 4 October 2012.
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MARQUES meets European Commission DGs
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Liaison Meeting on Designs
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 On 15 October 2012, a MARQUES delegation led by Diana Versteeg, first Vice-Chair of MARQUES Council (pictured), and including Alessandra Romeo (MARQUES External Relations Officer), Massimo Sterpi (of MARQUES Council) and Ian Lowe (in the chair) from the MARQUES Regulatory and Anti-Counterfeiting and Parallel Trade Teams met with officials of DG TAXUD and DG TRADE as well as with members of Commissioner De Gucht’s Cabinet.
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 The Designs Liaison Meeting took place at OHIM last month. In addition to representatives of the member states (current and candidate), there were members of ECTA, FICPI and INTA. David Stone, Chair of the Designs Team (pictured), represented MARQUES.
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“It was a very useful meeting, both in terms of sharing of knowledge (there was a lot of useful practical and technical information) but also re-affirming the role of users in OHIM's systems,” reported David.
The meeting included:
- An update on the Observatory, staff changes at OHIM and the new OHIM website which will launch at Easter 2013.
- A report on the Co-operation Fund, which includes Search Image, Quality Standards, DesignView, E-learning, Common Gateway, Call Centre Tool and the Software Package. All of these will be relevant for design owners and applicants. OHIM is also seeking suggestions for design projects to be added to the Convergence Programme.
- Results of a questionnaire on design filing practice in the member states, which revealed a huge divergence in practice, and a large degree of uncertainty.
- An explanation of the process for updating the Manual and Guidelines.
- Presentations on national requirements for graphical representation of a design: the Korean office accepts gif files and CAD files, so that an object can be rotated, or a "moving" design shown. OHIM only accepts seven static views. The President can determine the electronic form of submissions, so CAD and gif files may be administratively possible.
- An update on EU case law: the Board of Appeal has now given 237 design decisions in relation to 419 appeals. There are 15 cases pending before the General Court, 10 General Court decisions and four Court of Justice decisions.
- Presentations and a workshop on priority, and national office requirements. Most oddly, OHIM will allow a picture of a sculpture in a park, because it considers natural formations not to be protectable, and therefore not there, and therefore neutral.
More information is available from David Stone or other members of the Designs Team.
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What colour is your trade mark?
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Recent European and US cases on colour trade marks are compared by members of the IP Outer Borders Team.
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WIPO clarifies class headings practice
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 WIPO has issued a communication entitled: Indications that the Use of Class Headings of the Nice Classification in International Applications Is Intended to Cover all the Goods and Services Included in the Alphabetical Lists of the Classes Concerned.
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New process for OHIM Guidelines
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OHIM is to adopt a new process in 2013 which will see its manuals on trade mark and registered design practice replaced by a new set of Guidelines in all official EU languages.
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MARQUES media roundup
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MARQUES Office opening times
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 Catch up on the news and discussions from the MARQUES website and social media channels.
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 Please note the MARQUES Office will close at 1700hrs on Friday 21 December and will reopen at 0900hrs on Wednesday 2 January 2013. We would like to extend Seasonal Greetings to all our members and we wish you a peaceful and prosperous New Year.
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Issue 024
