The English trademark law provides protection for the use of trademarks in the United Kingdom. Trademarks are a way for one party to differentiate from another. In the business world, trademarks provide products or organizations with identities that competitors can not duplicate.
Trademarks may be names, words, phrases, logos, symbols, designs, drawings, sounds, shapes, signatures or combinations of these elements. In English law, as in most common law countries other than the United States and Canada, the term is written as a "trademark" (as in the Trademark Act 1994), not a "trademark".
Video United Kingdom trade mark law
Rights granted
Trademark owners can legitimately defend their value against violations. To do so, the trademark must be registered, or has been used for a certain period of time so as to obtain local uniqueness (Previous Rights).
The extent to which a trademark is retained depends on the similarity of the trademark involved, the similarity of the product or service involved and whether the trademark has gained particularity.
Registered trademarks are relatively easy to maintain in court. An unregistered trademark depends on abandonment laws (in which the goods or services of one party are presented in a manner that causes confusion between them and the goods or services of others).
Rights have also recently been extended in relation to well-known trademarks.
The Trade Marks Act 1994 states that "a person violates a registered trademark if he uses in a trade mark identical to a trademark in relation to goods or services that are identical to those listed" (section 10 (1) of the Act). A person may also violate a registered trademark in which the marks are similar and goods or services similar to those for registered trademarks and there may be confusion on the part of the community as a result (section 10 (2)).
A person also violates a registered trademark in which the marks are identical but the goods are not the same if the trademark has a reputation in the UK and its use takes advantage of the unfair, or harmful, character or reputation of the mark (section 10 (3)).
Maps United Kingdom trade mark law
Registering a trademark
Trademark registration in the UK is achieved through the UK Intellectual Property Office. If the registration is accepted by UKIPO, a number of exclusive rights are granted to the trademark owner. These rights enable the owner to prevent unauthorized use of marks on products that are identical or similar to a registered mark.
When a trademark application is created for UKIPO, it tests the app to decide whether the trademark being applied is different enough to become a trademark. Registration usually takes about three and a half to four months. However, this time span can be greatly increased if the objection is submitted to registration mark by the owner of the same registered trademark or by UKIPO itself. Once a trademark is registered, it is kept in the register for ten years, after which it needs to be updated to protect the rights of the owner. It can also be left hose.
Trademarks are registered in one or more of the 45 classes. There are 34 classes of goods and 11 for service. These groups group products that are considered to be similar in function, and are identified by their numbers. For example, trademark registration for various gymnastic and sports articles is classified by the trademark registry in "class 28".
Trademark delays
Some key objections that will be made by UKIPO when a trademark is submitted for registration are usually related to the "peculiarities" of the brand. Signs that are inherently different are the easiest to register, because they have no meaning before. These signs are not found in the dictionary. A good example of a typical trademark is the iPod.
Words that appear in dictionaries can still be registered. This arbitrary trademark has no meaning in the context of its use. For example, Apple Computer , or Apple Corps .
The suggested trademarks do not describe the characteristics of the product, but with some imagination, can be identified with the connected product. For example, ColdSeal Window .
Descriptive trademarks use words that appear in dictionaries that describe related products. They are usually difficult to register, and the recorder needs to prove that the mark has become distinctive through its long-term use. Descriptive signs can be made different from adding other elements to a name or logo.
Acquired distinctiveness
Descriptive trademarks may only be registered if they have "acquired specificities". This can be accomplished through its use, although it proves that "gaining the distinction" has been achieved usually depends on sales figures and advertising budgets.
Registration exceptions
Most countries exclude certain terms and symbols from being listed. These include emblems, flags, royal emblems, and Olympic rings. Additionally, the deceptive mark of the country of origin of the product and the suggestive mark can not be restored.
Historical legislation
In 1862, the Trademark Law made it a criminal offense to copy other trademarks "with a view to deceiving or allowing others to cheat." In 1875, the Trademark Registration Act was passed that allowed the official registration of trademarks in the British Patent Office for the first time. Registration is considered to contain prima facie evidence of trademark ownership and brand registration beginning on January 1, 1876. The first registered trademark is the red triangle of Brewery Bass. The 1875 Act defines trademarks that may be registered as "the device, or brand, or name of an individual or company printed in a particular and distinctive manner, or a written signature or a written copy of an individual or company's signature, or a typical label or ticket ". However, any word or name used as a trademark prior to the issuance of the Act (in August 1875) is entitled to register whether the mark meets this criterion or not.
In 1883, the Patent and Trademark Act substantially revised the trademark law, reduced application costs, and included the facility to register "unusually extravagant words" and "brand" as a new sign for the first time. The principal trademark act was further ratified in 1888 and 1905 (the second of which is a more refined definition of the trademark), 1919 (which separates trademarks from registering to Sections A and B, each of which has different registration criteria) and 1938, which The last of which remained in force until it was replaced in 1994.
Recent law
The current UK Trademark Law is the 1994 Trademark Act, which applies European Trademark Directive to national law.
The UK Office of Intellectual Property radically changed the way the UK national trademark application was examined in October 2007. Previously, the UK national trademark application underwent a full examination on both the absolute (specific) and relative (prior rights) grounds. In October 2007, a search that formed part of an app inspection on a previous rights basis became an advisory search in the same manner as the Community Trade Mark system, enacting Section 8 of the Trademark Act 1994. No longer will UKIPO unilaterally prevent applying a UK national trade mark on the basis of a previously pending application or prior registration for conflicting signs. Instead, it will get to the right owner to oppose the application when it is advertised for oppositional purposes, although UKIPO will still advise against conflicting application owners where excerpts including their marks have been sent to the applicant to assist them in making the opposite.
The fast-track application process has also been available to applicants since 7 April 2008. [1]
The general legal aspects of the UK are also related to trademarks, especially violations of common law that occur.
See also
- European trademark law
- Company Name Tribunal
- UK Intellectual Property Office
References
External links
- The trademark law and how the UK Trade Marks Registry interprets it
- Trademark Act 1994
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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