IPTango: EUIPO

Showing posts with label EUIPO. Show all posts

Friday, 5 June 2020

Uruguay: Absolute Grounds of Refusal good practice

Patricia Covarrubia June 05, 2020 No comments:

Not many times we receive much news about Uruguay, so in this occasion I am delighted to bring you news on good practice. The National Directorate of Industrial Property under the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining of Uruguay (DNPI), in collaboration with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the EU-funded project IP Key Latin America (IP KEY LA), have put together a Practice Paper concerning the examination of absolute grounds for refusal in cases of figurative trade marks that contain purely descriptive words/expressions. The paper is to be used as a guidance on how to assess the examination of this type of marks (known in Uruguay as ‘marcas mixtas’ ).

The grounds for refusal are divided into two: 1) ‘absolute grounds for refusal’ which refers to the 'intrinsic qualities' of the sign and its ability to function as a trade mark i.e. to be able to be distinguishable in the market; 2) ‘relative grounds for refusal’ which refers to conflicts with earlier 3rd party rights. The IP Key Latin America notes that the DNPI is the “first Latin American IP office to analyse and find common ground with the criteria developed under the Common Communication on the Common Practice of Distinctiveness – Figurative marks containing descriptive/non-distinctive words”.

For more information click here. The paper can be read here (Spanish), and here (English).

Free trade mark databases – the presence of Latin American countries

Patricia Covarrubia November 06, 2018 No comments:

Have you heard of TMview? This is a common online trade mark information platform. The platform, a free of charge tool, makes trade mark data (registration and application) widely available and easily accessible to all interested parties. The platform is used in the EU and in the ASEAN region.

Talking about views..this is my view!
from the 19th floor of the Korean
Intellectual Property Office (KIPO)

The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) in the EU administers the platform. It has operated since April 2010 and contains information from all of the EU national IP offices, the European Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and a number of international partner offices outside the EU.

In Latin America, Mexico was the first country to participate, followed by Brazil, Colombia and in October 2017, Peru. These national IPOs made its trade mark data available to the TMview search tool.

Aside from TMview, there is also DesignView which operates as TMview, i.e., a platform that share data for industrial designs (application and registration) – Peru participates in this platform.

The new participant is Costa Rica, joining both the TMview and DesignView and so, it has now made available its trade mark (278,627 of them) and industrial design (1,700) data available to the EUIPO search tools. The number of trade marks in TMview is close to reach 50 millions (as of 06 November 2018).

Source EUIPO.

Peru: User Satistaction Survey (USS) tool

Patricia Covarrubia October 03, 2018 No comments:

Back in September 2018, the Peruvian National Institute for the Defence of Free Competition and Protection of Intellectual Property (INDECOPI) implemented the User Satisfaction Survey (USS) tool. This tool allows IPOs, which have a single, common approach to carry out surveys among participating IP offices. Used by the EU IPOs, this tool is now extended to non-EU IP offices. At the moment, there are seven non-EU IPOs that are using this tool: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, India, Albania, Georgia, Serbia and Peru.

Source EUIPO.

Peru joins TMview and DesignView

Patricia Covarrubia November 03, 2017 No comments:

TMview is a common online trade mark information platform. This platform is used in the EU as well in the ASEAN region. The aim of the TMview is to make trade mark data widely available and easily accessible to all interested parties. This is a ‘free’ online access to information on trade mark registrations and applications having effects in the participating countries.

Viewing?

In the EU it is administered by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and since the 10th October 2017, the National Institute for the Defense of Free Competition and the Protection of Intellectual Property of Peru (INDECOPI) has made its trade mark data available to the TMview search tool.

According to the EUIPO data, this platform operating since April 2010, “has served more than 34.7 million searches from 157 different countries”. It “contains information from all of the EU national IP offices, the European Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and a number of international partner offices outside the EU on trade mark applications and registered marks.”

Mexico was the first Latin America country to participate, and today Brazil and Colombia are part of this search tool as well. As of today, there are 42,633,311 trade marks in TMview.

The news does not end...because INDECOPI also made the industrial design data available to DesignView which is the largest industrial design platform in the world!
As with its counterpart, DesignView, is a centralized, free and online consultation tool providing information on registered industrial designs (or in process).

Source INDECOPI.

Promoting the IP system in Brazil

Patricia Covarrubia September 29, 2017 No comments:

The INPI has had a busy couple of weeks. This week INPI’s president participated in a meeting with representatives of the Intellectual Property Office of the European Union (EUIPO). The aim is to bring a partnership between INPI and EUIPO, through the ‘IP Key Latin America’ which promotes the IP system in Brazil.

The IP Key Latin America has been carried by EUIPO as a European Union (EU) body. The project aims “to stimulate the improvement of IP systems in countries outside the EU.” Mainly it promotes “the exchange of good practice of examination and management, the development of Information Technology tools and participation in global protection systems. The scope of the project can include actions such as the preparation of studies, the organisation of seminars and training events, missions of experts, among other activities.”

Covering issues of cooperation Brazil has also seen in the last couple of weeks two other teamwork/co-operation. The 14th September INPIs’ presidents from Brazil and Argentina, signed a memorandum of understanding, to increase cooperation between the two countries in Industrial Property. In the same line and aiming the same as the IP Key Latin America, this cooperation also promotes “manuals and guidelines for trade marks and industrial designs” It extends to cover “priority projects in the examination of patents; exchange of experiences; bilateral collaboration in the analysis of patent applications; and promoting the use of the IP system in both countries.” INPIs’ presidents also discussed international IP negotiations in Mercosur, the Cooperation System on Operational and Industrial Property Aspects (Prosur), the Ibero-American Industrial Property Program (IBEPI), the Organization World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO).

In September also the INPI received a visit from the Danish Patent and Trademark Office (DKPTO) to discuss potential partnerships. The Danish learned about the INPI systems such as the priority examination projects, the digitalization of trade mark documents, among other topics.

Finally INPI announces the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)’s new office in Brazil, located in Rio de Janeiro.

Old + New = learning experiences

Patricia Covarrubia December 15, 2016 No comments:

There is a new cooperation agreement signed between the old and the new world. Mr Luiz Otávio Pimentel, the Brazilian Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial (INPI)’s president recently signed a cooperation agreement with the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO). The aim of this agreement is to exchange experiences, and of course, collaboration between the offices and the quality of examinations procedures.

The exchange of experiences is based on the role of the Academy (the Educational sector) centring in the significance of intellectual property to society. In order words, the role that it has in raising awareness about intellectual property issues. Back in November 2015, the UKIPO launched a webpage “giving schools and colleges access to teaching resources to help students learn about intellectual property.” The project was funded by the European Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO, previously known as OHIM).

The INPI and UKIPO agreement is also to exchange of information on The Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) - the accelerated patent prosecution procedures by way of sharing information between patent offices. Moreover, it includes the examination and study of a version adapted to Brazilian of the British Lambert Toolkit. This tool is based on universities and business collaboration agreements -- the aim is to “assist academic or research institutions and industrial partners who wish to carry out research projects together.”

Finally, Brazil and the UK Brazil exchanged their views on bilateral trade relations among other issues that took part on the Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) meeting.

For more information regarding JETCO, see the joint-statement here.

INDECOPI joins TMclass

Gilberto Macias (@gmaciasb) April 19, 2016 No comments:

As of 18 April 2016, the Peruvian National Institute for the Defense of Free Competition and the Protection of Intellectual Property (INDECOPI) joins TMclass. Peru is the third Latin-American country included in the tool following Brazil and Mexico.

The addition of Peru brings the total number of national and regional IP Offices, including OAPI, WIPO and EUIPO, in the tool to 59.

TMclass now offers users the opportunity to search and translate terms to and from any of the 40 available languages.

This successful integration is the result of joint effort and cooperation within the framework of the International Cooperation Programme managed by EUIPO in collaboration with its international partners.

Source EUIPO.

UPDATE: As of 25 April 2016, the Colombia Superintendence of Industry and Comerce (SIC) has also joined TMclass. (EUIPO).