OPPOSITION TO THE REGISTRATION OF CONFUSABLE TRADEMARKS, WITHIN THE ESTABLISHED TIMEFRAME
The trademark watching service involves sending out a monthly summary of published (and sometimes not yet published) applications for similar trademarks in the designated area (territory and class of goods or services) compiled on the basis of a check in official databases of countries around the world and details related to them, in particular deadlines for opposition, goods and services covered by the application and applicant.
The Italian Patent and Trademark Office (UIBM) does not carry out any searches among existing trademarks on receipt of a new trademark application.
The trademark watching service aims at enabling the applicant of the monitored trademark to file opposition to registration against potentially confusing or harmful trademark applications within the tight deadlines imposed by the various national and international competent offices (the deadline for filing opposition to an Italian and EU trademark application is 3 months from the date of publication) and is implemented following the client’s needs, allowing a complete and constant monitoring on the filing of similar names and enabling the watching of trademarks, initially not in conflict, which could become so, for example, as a result of an enlargement of the territories or goods/services marketed, also avoiding vulgarization, which involves a reduction in distinctiveness.
Resorting to the opposition procedure has the purpose of obtaining the limitation or rejection of the conflicting trademark application with a procedure that is simpler and certainly less time-consuming than a legal action, so the watching service proves to be an important tool for the protection of a name in consideration of how the growing trend in the number of worldwide filings of trademark applications is followed by the growing trend of infringement cases.
The watching offered is available in more than 200 countries and registers and can also be extended to figurative trademarks and possibly company names.