FIRST DRAFT OF TRADEMARK LAW TREATY REVISION AGREED

Managing Information reports that the WIPO Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) has agreed on a text which will form the basic proposal for negotiations relating to the revision of the Trademark Law Treaty. The draft will be discussed at the Diplomatic Conference for the Adoption of the Revised Trademark Law Treaty to be held in March 1996. In particular, the revisions aim to take into account technological developments which are relevant to trade mark registration. These include provisions on electronic filing of trademark applications and associated communications, the formalities concerning the representation of all types of marks, including visible signs (and certain forms of visible signs, such as hologram marks, colour marks, position marks or motion marks) as well as non-visible signs. Also included are provisions concerning the recording of trademark licenses, relief measures when certain time limits have been missed, and the establishment of an assembly of the contracting parties. Additionally, a preparatory meeting for the diplomatic conference has agreed that concerned regional such as OHIM and ARIPO will be entitled to attend the March 2006 diplomatic conference.

All the colours of the rainbow may be graphically representable – but is the future brite for their distinctiveness?

The IPKat says that it’s all very well to agree on how these “non-traditional” types of trade marks can be recorded, but he has doubts over whether many of them are actually capable of distinguishing the goods of an undertaking from those of other undertakings (and hence acting as a trade mark).