News

The new Granted Patents Report for Patents granted in International Class G06F (electrical digital data processing) with a publication date of 9. May 2012 is now available free of charge at

http://www.weisse-patent.de/en/Downloads/g06gpr/

Please contact us if you are interested in similar reports in other classes or if you wish to receive documentation or reminders.

From 1. January 2012 Spain leaves the System for carrying out searches provided for by Article 38 of the Regulation on the Community Trade Mark (CTMR). Such searches are carried out by participating countries and posted to the applicants. There are no immediate legal effects of such searches. The number of searching countries is now reduced to 10, i.e. Romania, Denmark, Greece, Lithuania, Hungary, Austria, Poland, Finland, Czech Republic and Slovak Republic. The Spanish Patent and Trademark Office (OEPM) will provide searches for Community Trademarks with a filing date up to the end of 2011 and no searches thereafter. Accordingly, the official fees will be reduced.

If you are interested in substantive searches please contact us. We will be pleased to provide you with a customized offer for your trademark.

Only recently, one of our clients again received a request for payment from a very dubious enterprise. In the present case, this enterprise was called “Patentregister AG”. Applicants of Intellectual Property whose application or registration is published very often receive such letters. We urge you not to pay such invoices and not to reply in any way. If you have any doubts, please fax the invoice to one of our offices and we will check it for you free of charge.

Only recently, one of our clients again received a request for payment from a very dubious enterprise. In the present case, this enterprise was called IBIP (international Bureau for Intellectual Property). Applicants of Intellectual Property whose application or registration is published very often receive such letters. We urge you not to pay such invoices and not to reply in any way. If you have any doubts, please fax the invoice to one of our offices and we will check it for you free of charge.

Source: www.epo.org

Finnland became member state of the London Agreement with effect from 1. November 2011. This means, that from that date on Finnish translations of a European Patent Specification must not be filed anymore in order to validate a European Patent if the patent was granted in English language or if an English translation is filed before the Finnish Patent Office. Please note, however, that a Finnish translation of the claims must still be filed in any case. You can find a current list of the member states here.

Source: Kammerrundschreiben 5/11

In September 2010 Israel and Kazakhstan became members of the Madrid Protocol for International Registration of Marks. It is now possible to register international marks in English language and on the basis of a trademark application rather than a registered trademark. Please find a complete list of the member states here.