Firms must act now to
protect their trademarks
Firms in Nottinghamshire
are being warned that they
could lose control of
their trademarks because
of new regulations unless
they take action now to
protect themselves.
The problem arises because
the way trademarks are
monitored is changing to
the European system which
requires firms to be more
vigilant.
In
the past, a trademark
application would
automatically be blocked
by the Patent Office if it
was considered to be too
similar to an existing
mark. That is no longer
the case because of new
regulations introduced on
1st October.
The new UK Intellectual
Property Office, which has
replaced the Patent
Office, will no longer
block applications but
merely inform the existing
brand holder that someone
else is try to register a
similar trademark.
It will then be up to the
existing holder to
formally oppose the
application.
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