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Amendments to Trademark Laws

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Jul 17, 2012 (Newsletter Issue 11/12)
EUIPO
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Change in Practice on Use of Class Headings


The Community Trademarks Office OHIM has decided to change their practice on the use of class headings in lists of goods after the decision from the European Court of Justice in the "IP Translator" case.

The decision states that:
The specifications of goods should be expressed with sufficient clarity and precision to enable the competent authorities and economic operators to determine the extent of the protection conferred by the trade mark.
It is not precluded to use the general indications of the class headings of the Nice classification of goods and services.
An applicant who uses class heading for identifying the goods/services for which protection is sought, must specify whether the application is intended to cover all goods or services of the relevant class or only some of the goods/services.

- For Community trade marks registered before 21 June 2012 which use all the general indications listed in the class heading of a particular class, OHIM will consider that the intention of the applicant was to cover all the goods or services included in the alphabetical list of that class in the edition in force at the time when the filing was made.
- For Community trade mark applications filed before 21 June 2012 and which are still not registered, OHIM considers that the intention was to cover all the goods or services included in the alphabetical list of the particular class concerned, unless the applicants specify that they had sought protection only in respect of some of those goods or services in that class.
- For Community trade mark applications filed after 21 June 2012, the applicants must expressly indicate whether or not the intention is to cover all the goods or services included in the alphabetical list of the particular class concerned or only some of those goods or services in that class

Source: Zacco AS, Norway