A new trademark law entered into force in Serbia on February 1, 2020 introducing important changes that further harmonize the country’s trademark legislation with the corresponding European Union law. Here are the most important changes:

1. Introduction of the opposition system - One of the most important changes brought by the new trademark law is the introduction of the opposition system. Interested parties can file an opposition within three months from the application’s publication date in the Serbian IPO’s Official Gazette.  The deadline for filing oppositions against international registrations is three months from the first day of the month following the date of publication in the WIPO Gazette of International Marks. Only if the two parties make a joint request to that effect, will the Serbian IPO approve a “cooling-off” period, which can last for 24 months at the longest. 

2. Grounds For Opposition - Oppositions can be based on two new grounds for refusal which are not examined ex officio and were previously entirely absent from the law. One of these is filing of a trademark application by a trademark owner’s agent or representative without the owner’s authorization. The other is similarity of a trademark to an existing company name. 

3. Adopting the principle of international exhaustion - The new Trademarks Act adopts the concept of international exhaustion. Therefore, once the trademark proprietor places, or consents to placing, on the market anywhere in the world goods protected by the trademark, the proprietor has exhausted its right to prohibit further circulation of the goods.

4. Infringement Actions In The Name Of Licensees - Unless otherwise stipulated by the license agreement, the holder of an exclusive license is entitled to file an infringement action if they notified the trademark owner and the latter did not file the infringement action within 30 days from being notified, and the holder of a non-exclusive licence is entitled to file an infringement action only if such an action is authorized by the trademark owner.

5. International Trademark Use - In opposition, infringement, invalidity and non-use cancellation proceedings, the relevant registration date for an international trademark will be one year after the date of notifying WIPO of the request to extend protection to the territory of Serbia. 

6. Comparative advertising - Trademark proprietor may now claim trademark infringement if the defendant used the sign in comparative advertising in a manner that is contrary to law. 

7. Right to prohibit preparatory acts in relation to the use of packaging or other means - Where the risk of infringement exists, the proprietor has the right to prohibit affixing a sign identical with, or similar to, the protected trademark on the packaging, labels, and other items on which a mark may be placed. 

8. Restitutio in integrum -The new Trademark Act now allows for restitutio in integrum in a number of stages in the proceeding before the SIPO. 

9. Decisions of the Serbian Intellectual Property Office are final - Once the SIPO takes a decision, the dissatisfied party no longer has the possibility of filing an appeal. However, administrative litigation can be initiated.

10. Trademarks as objects of enforcement -The law makes it explicit that trademarks are suitable as objects of enforcement. 

Prior to his appointment as WIPO Director General, Mr. Tang served as Chief Executive of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS). Between 1997 and 2012, before joining IPOS, Mr. Tang held different legal positions within the Attorney-General’s Chambers and the Ministry of Trade and Industry of Singapore.  Mr. Tang also presided as Chair of WIPO's Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) from May 2017 until his appointment as Director General.

WIPO's member states on May 8, 2020, appointed Mr. Tang by consensus as the Organization's next Director General, following his nomination by the WIPO Coordination Committee in March 2020. 

Following his appointment, Mr. Tang laid out his priorities and vision for the Organization going forward, saying that work will be channeled along three themes: inclusiveness, balance, and future-orientation.

Mr. Tang is the fifth Director General of WIPO, following Mr. Gurry of Australia (2008-2020), Mr. Kamil Idris of Sudan (1997-2008), Mr. Arpad Bogsch of the United States (1973-1997) and Mr. Georg Bodenhausen of the Netherlands (1970-1973).

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At the 88th Assembly of the Council of the European Patent Institute, organized by professional representatives before the European Patent Office in Munich, held today, June 29, 2020 (online), a new leadership of the Institute was elected, in which on one of the two vice presidential posts was elected the Macedonian and European patent attorney, Mr. Bogoljub Ilievski, director of the Patent Department at the Berin Intellectual Property Agency in Skopje, MK.

The European Patent Institute has about 12,000 European patents attorneys from 38 countries (all EU members, plus Turkey, North Macedonia, Serbia, Albania, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Norway, and San Marino). This election is a great recognition for Bogoljub personally, for the Berin Agency and for all Macedonian patent representatives. 

At today's meeting, which was also attended by Prof. Dr. Gjorgji Filipov, founder of Berin IP Agency, one another term in the Disciplinary Commission of the European Patent Institute for the Macedonian and European Patent Representative, Vanco Damjanski, Chief Executive Officer of Berlin was confirmed. Thanks a lot to all colleagues who suported the election!

Congratulations to Bobby and Vane!
Congratulations to all Macedonian Patent Attorneys!

"The purpose of this Inventors' Handbook is to provide you with basic guidance on all the key stages of turning an invention into a commercial product. Or perhaps we should say the key stages of turning an idea into an enterprise, if we are to widen our definition of 'invention' to include novel processes, business methods, social interactions etc. Though invention has traditionally been associated with manufactured products, it is now better understood that new wealth has always been created primarily from new knowledge, or novel uses of existing knowledge.

Although this guide is published by the European Patent Office, its content goes well beyond issues of intellectual property (IP). While IP is undoubtedly essential to the successful exploitation of new ideas, it is only one of several important aspects of innovation." 

From the introduction given in the handbook. 

For complete content please visit: epo.org