A few texts were recently added to the WIPO Lex database.
Cyprus
The Trade Marks (Amendment) Law of 2020 (Law No. 63 (I) of 2020) entered into force on June 12, 2020.
The Law introduces, inter alia, the following amendments to the Trade Marks Law, in order to align with Directive (EU) No. 2015/2436:
(i) Introducing a new definition of trademark to include color, sound, motion, and holographic marks;
(ii) Establishing multi-class trademark applications;
(iii) Extending the trademark registration term from 7 years to 10 years from the filing date;
(iv) Allowing the applicant to divide their application by class prior to registration (in order to, e.g., immediately proceed after office actions or opposition proceedings against other classes);
(v) Amending opposition proceedings by extending the opposition period from two to three months, and incorporating a “cooling off” period of two months to allow parties to reach a friendly settlement;
(vi) Removing the requirement of the filing of a Power of Attorney form in trademark procedures; and
(vii) Establishing a single fee for the trademark registration process.
Croatia
The Regulation on Amendments to the Regulation on Special Fees and Fees for Information Services Provided by the State Intellectual Property Office (hereinafter “the Regulation”) was published in the Official Gazette No. 89/2020 on July 31, 2020, and entered into force on August 8, 2020.
This Regulation amends the Regulation on Special Fees and Fees for Information Services Provided by the State Intellectual Property Office to comply with the new legislative changes introduced by the Patent Act (OG No. 16/2020) and Trademarks Act (OG No. 14/2019).
The amendments introduced by the Regulation include, inter alia:
(i) that the basic fee for filing or renewing a trademark shall cover only one class of goods and services, instead of three classes;
(ii) the establishment of utility model fees; and
(iii) the creation of a new fee “Prior Art Search Fee” separable from the “Examination Report Fee”, resulting in a decrease in examination fees for applications that do not meet patentability requirements.
WIPO Lex provides free of charge access to legal information on intellectual property from around the world. WIPO Lex Database Search gives access to 52700 legal documents from among intellectual property laws, treaties, and judgments collections.
