Recent books on trade marks and TRIPs

The third edition of Jessie N. Roberts' International Trademark Classification: a Guide to the Nice Agreement has now been published by Oxford University Press. The IPKat has been giving it his usual purr-usal and he can testify that, for anyone who enjoys reading books of lists, this book is un-put-downable. The hard work has all been done by Jessie, who has the grand title of Administrator of Trademark Identification, Classification and Practice, Office of the Assistant Commissioner for Trademarks, United States Patent and Trademark Office (the acronym, ATICPOACTUSPTO, sounds like a remote volcanic resort in Central America, the IPKat thinks).

What's in this book? OUP describe it as a handy desk reference for proper classification of goods and services in trade mark applications, incorporating and highlighting recent changes under the 9th Edition of the Nice Agreement Classification, effective from 1 January 2007. The web-blurb continues

"This book explains the forty-five Classes of goods and services that were adopted under the Nice Agreement, a worldwide classification system for trademark registration that is adhered to by more than seventy countries. It sets forth the Official Text of Class Headings and the Explanatory Notes of which goods and services are included or excluded from each Class. This is followed by the Authors examination of each item within the Class, including those items for which there are no official explanations.

The Third Edition incorporates the changes brought about by the 9th Edition of the Nice Agreement Classification, which is effective as of 1 January 2007. The specific changes from the 8th edition are separately explained, so that the reader can quickly grasp what those changes are".

The IPKat, who was brought up on only 34 classes, still has to struggle with the addition of classes for service marks and the subsequent expansion of service classes from 8 to 11. Indeed, when he wakes up from his night-time nap, the first thing he has to do every morning before emerging from his basket is to remember that Class 42 is for sci-tech and related services and is not just a general miscellaneous catch-all. For this reason he paid particular attention to the bits towards the rear of this book - and he has to say he found them pretty helpful: the text is clear and focuses well upon the many grey areas in which one might regard a product or service as falling within one of two or more classes. The only criticism he has is that the index contains no entry under "cat" at all, while birds, bees, dogs, fish, horses, lobsters, mice, mussels and rats are all represented. He hopes that his representations to the author and the publisher will result in a much-needed rectification of this omission in the Fourth Edition.

Bibliographical details: Price £76.00 (paperback). ISBNs 10: 0-19-532315-7 and 13: 978-0-19-532315-3. Publication date 3 May 2007. xiii and 288 pages. Rupture factor: negligible - though the cover is very smooth and can easily slip through your paws. Curious feature: the author is Jessie in the book but Jesse on the OUP website.


While some of us have embraced it with open minds and others of us have pretended it just doesn't exist, the TRIPs Agreement continues to grow in significance as the battleground in the fight to secure a balance between the haves and the have-nots of the intellectual property world shifts from the docks and the markets where illicit goods are traded to the polished tables over which the world's diplomats exchange their views. This being so, Carlos M. Correa's Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights: a Commentary on the TRIPs Agreement provides much valuable material to read and consider - whether you agree with it or not (the author, Director of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies on Industrial Property Law and Economics at the University of Buenos Aires, is a man who prefers to do his own thinking). Another Oxford University Press publication, this work offers a comprehensive and accessible analysis of TRIPs, taking in (i) examination of the rights and duties of WTO members in implementing it, (ii) a forward-looking analysis of the developments in digital copyright as well as (iii) discussion of TRIPs' crucial enforcement provisions. Adds the publisher's website:

"... This volume provides a detailed legal analysis of the provisions of the TRIPS Agreement, as well as elements to consider their economic implications in different legal and socio-economic contexts.

This book ... discusses the interpretation of the Agreement's provisions and the WTO jurisprudence already developed on certain aspects of the Agreement. It also includes a brief discussion on emerging issues such as protection of traditional knowledge, and on options for further developments e.g. copyright in a digital environment, and the relationship with competition law. It also takes into account recent developments in bilateral agreements and free trade agreements that contain TRIPS-plus standards of protection.

The Preamble and general provisions of the TRIPS Agreement are addressed, as well as the substantive rules on copyright and related rights, trademarks, geographical indications, industrial designs, patents, integrated circuits, trade secrets and test data. The controversies about the implementation and interpretation of these provisions are highlighted, including the content an implications of the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health of November 2001, and of the WTO Decision of August 30, 2003 relating to access to medicines. ...

The IPKat is hugely relieved that the bit on designs law is quite short, since team blogger Jeremy has recently written a chapter on TRIPs and designs for a rival publication and was worried that he might have missed something. Another thing that appeals to him is the author's way of reading TRIPs in the light of the rules of interpretation in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties - a provision that rarely gets a mention in intellectual property circles, at least where common law interpretational technques hold sway. Anyway, congratulations to the author on putting together a well-written and helpfully-referenced work - and to the publishers for keeping the price tag below the psychologically significant £100 mark.

Bibliographical details: price £95.00 (Hardback). ISBNs 10: 0-19-927128-3 and 3: 978-0-19-927128-3. Publication date: 29 March 2007. xxxv + 573 pages. Rupture factor: low to medium. Absolutely free download of a 53 page sample here.