Trademarks

dahamsta

How long does it take to get a trademark to registered status, as against pending status? Both Irish and Community marks.

adam

madramor

3 months for irish don't know about eu ones

AARRRGH

Irish ones take at least 6 months. I recently tried to register a few...

mneylon

Adam
If this is for .eu registration you would probably be better off looking into the unregistered trademark rules..

madramor

dublindude wrote:

Irish ones take at least 6 months. I recently tried to register a few...

I have register one and thats how long it takes.

They publish the mark in a journal and anyone has 3 months to object
to the mark from the date of publishing.

Thats from a name trademark

ambro25

blacknight wrote:

you would probably be better off looking into the unregistered trademark rules.

What might those be?

mneylon

"Applicants can claim a Prior right to a name on the basis of
(i) a well-known unregistered trademark as provided for in Article 6bis of the Paris Convention on the Protection of Industrial Property (as amended), or
(ii) an unregistered trademark other than one falling under (i) above that is protected under the law of one of the member states protecting unregistered trademarks."

ambro25

blacknight wrote:

"Applicants can claim a Prior right to a name on the basis of
(i) a well-known unregistered trademark as provided for in Article 6bis of the Paris Convention on the Protection of Industrial Property (as amended), or
(ii) an unregistered trademark other than one falling under (i) above that is protected under the law of one of the member states protecting unregistered trademarks."

Oh, those...

(i) is for Coca Cola, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, etc. (well, these are registered, but I'm showing here examples of what is understood as a well-known mark under the Paris Convention)

(ii) is only ever asserted in Court during an action for Passing Off - that *might* work in Ireland and the UK (because Common Law jurisdictions - but see below), not many other places in Europe unfortunately.

There is nothing you can do to prevent X from applying to register your unregistered mark in Ireland, the UK or anywhere else - that is particularly important for *.eu domains, as registered rights owners attract some protection (against cyber squatters), not so unregistered rights owners, for whom the whole affair is much more expensive in the end, because they first have to prove that they own this unregistered right, and then do something about the domains(s).

You may oppose such an application within the opposition period, but all you'll usually achieve is gain the (negotiated) right to continue using your unregistered mark in your area of trading (geographical + types of product/service), in a deal with the applicant who *might* want to save €s/hassle, as opposed to a decision from the TM Office or a Court if before issuing proceedings under Passing Off.