25th January, 2012
The Office of Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademark, India has issued guidelines on providing information in trade mark applications.
Public Notice No. 81 dated 9th January 2012 issued by the Indian Patent Office seeks indication of actual goods and services in the application form. The notice suggests that terms such as “all goods/services”, “etc”, “all other goods/services included in class…”, “goods/services not limited to…” shall not be entertained.
While the guideline on exact description may provide some amount of certainty to third parties, it may also create hardship to applicants requiring sufficiently broad protection for certain allied goods within the same class.
According to the latest instruction of the IPO, in case of marks that indicate prior use, the actual date, month and year must be given and not just the year and/or month.
The Office of Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademark, India has issued guidelines on providing information in trade mark applications.
Public Notice No. 81 dated 9th January 2012 issued by the Indian Patent Office seeks indication of actual goods and services in the application form. The notice suggests that terms such as “all goods/services”, “etc”, “all other goods/services included in class…”, “goods/services not limited to…” shall not be entertained.
While the guideline on exact description may provide some amount of certainty to third parties, it may also create hardship to applicants requiring sufficiently broad protection for certain allied goods within the same class.
According to the latest instruction of the IPO, in case of marks that indicate prior use, the actual date, month and year must be given and not just the year and/or month.