Our Winter 2007/2008 Newsletter has been distributed to our friends and colleagues and can now be viewed by clicking on the appropriate section of the “Newsletters” page of our Website. If you would like to receive a printed copy, please contact us.
The main items with their opening sentences of our latest Newsletter read as follows:-
Until October 2007, a national UK trade mark application could be refused during examination if it was considered by the Examiner to conflict with an earlier European Community trade mark.
The European Commission has adopted Regulations which give effect to the accession of the European Community to the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement concerning the international registration of industrial designs.
A significant revision of the European Patent Convention came into force on 13th December 2007.
Now that France has ratified what is called “the London Agreement” the stage is set for a substantial reduction in the cost of obtaining patent protection amongst the countries of Europe under the European Patent Convention.
Where an application for a European Community registered design is proposed to be filed and where it is known that the design has been commissioned by the Applicant, the ownership of the design should be checked.
In January 2007 a new Fraud Act was passed by the UK government under which all intentional infringements of any IP rights on a commercial scale will now be treated as criminal offences.
| Country | Patents | Trade Marks | Designs & Copyright |
|---|---|---|---|
| Madagascar | Will join the Madrid Protocol with effect from 28th April 2008 | ||
| Norway | Joined EPC with effect from 1st January 2008 | ||
| Romania | Utility models protectable from 11th March 2008 |
Contrary to information previous received and incorporated into our last Newsletter, this Agreement which will lead to substantial reduction in European patenting costs will now come into force on 1st May 2008.
The U.K. Intellectual Property Office (UK-IPO) has now confirmed to us that European Patents (U.K.), which have grant dates, as published in the European Patents Bulletin, 1st February, 2008 or later, will no longer require an English translation of the full text of a French or German specification to be filed, in order to validate those patents in the U.K.; despite the London Agreement not coming into force until the 1st May, 2008.
The reasoning behind this is that there is, under the former law, a period of three months from the grant date within which to file a translation to validate the U.K. patent. Thus any EP patent granted from 1st February will, by default, not require an English translation on or after 1st May.
If any translations have already been prepared, then they can, of course, still be filed, as if under the former law.
Please note that the London Agreement does not affect the securing of provisional rights in the U.K. by filing a translation of pending claims under Article 67 EPC.
Raworth Moss & Cook is happy to continue to act as Address for Service as required for any European Patent (U.K).
Certain UK national trade mark Rules have been amended and will come into force on 6th April 2008, which will include provision for the fast-tracking to examination of national trade mark applications filed on or after Monday, 7th July 2008.
On payment of a substantial official fee - currently £300.00 - an application will be examined and the Examination Report will be issued within ten business days beginning on the first business day after the filing of the application. Business days for the purpose of examination are Monday to Friday (excluding public holidays). This is in comparison with standard national applications which currently take about one month from their filing date before they are examined.
It is important to note that this fast-track provision only applies to those national UK applications which are filed electronically and which relate only to a single trade mark (i.e. not a “series” of trade marks).
Once an Examination Report has been issued on a fast-track application it will be handled in the same manner as for a normal application, although Examiners will try to deal with the correspondence and any other procedural matters affecting fast-track applications as quickly as possible. There will, however, be no expedited publication of fast-track applications.
If the Examination Report on a fast-track application is not issued within the stipulated ten business day’s target, then the applicant will be entitled to a refund of the fast-track fee paid.
Due to a software problem at UKIPO at the present time no information can be retrieved concerning any trade marks which expired or were abandoned or withdrawn more than two years ago.
The Registry’s database should show such marks as “Archived”, but at the present time a search for such marks will either not find them or suggest that there is an error in the trade marks numbers being searched.
This problem appears to have started at the beginning of February 2008 and therefore any searches carried out after January 2008 may not be entirely accurate in that they may not include relevant expired registrations or failed applications. Thus they may need to be re-performed at a later date.
We are continuing to monitor the Registry’s database and this warning notice will be removed from our website when this software problem has been resolved.
Our Ms Rebecca Ferrari will be attending this conference and will be pleased to meet with other delegates either at the conference itself or by prior arrangement at our office which is easily reachable from the Royal Garden Hotel which is hosting this International Meeting.
Further information regarding any of the above changes is available on request.