Member Article

Serbia

Karanovic and Nikolic IP Regional Partner to attend 134^th International Trademark Association’s (INTA) Annual Meeting in Washington DC

 

IP Regional Partner in the Karanovic and Nikolic Law Office, Mr. Dragomir Kojic, along with Mrs. Mirna Lalic from our Sarajevo office, attended the 134^th Annual INTA Meeting held in Washington DC. The Conference was very successful. Great organization and numerous presentations and cocktails, provided Mr. Kojic and Mrs. Lalic not only with the possibility of getting acquainted with new trends, but also with the possibility of meeting with other international professionals in the field.

 Greece

Adoption of the new Law on Trademarks

 

The new Greek Law on Trademarks came into force in April of 2012 and shall be applicable as of October 11th 2012.   

Since the new Law on Trademarks significantly differs from the previous one, it was deemed necessary to introduce a six month transitional period following its adoption. The new Law on Trademarks introduces the following novelties: (a) introduction of the new institution of examiner for deciding on absolute and relative grounds of refusal; (b) possibility of recording Trademark License Agreement, upon petition of the licensor or the licensee, without the need for submission of the license deed, as required previously; (c) further completion of the electronic Trademark registry; (d) shortening of the opposition term to 3 months as of the publication of the accepting decision; (e) re-establishment of right possible for those extraordinary cases in which a deadline was failed to be met due to force majeure; (f) full transposal into the body of the Law of the EC Directive no. 2004/48; (g) introduction of stricter criminal sanctions for trademark infringement; (h) lowering of official administrative fees for about 10%, just to name the few.

 Croatia

Croatian State Intellectual Property (CSIP) Director appointed as vice-president of the European Patent Office (EPO)

Head of the CSIP, Mr. Zeljko Topic, has been appointed as the vice-president of the EPO on the Administrative Council Session held on March 28th of this year. Mr. Topic has been appointed to this seat for a five year term, succeeding to Mr. Brian McGinley from Ireland. He will be in charge of the EPO’s Directorate-General Administration, which runs EPO’s support services such as Human Resources, General Administration, Buildings and Facility Management, and the Language Service.

 Bosnia and Herzegovina

New member state of the Patent Treaty

 

As of May 9^th 2012, after the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina had filed the accession application in the month of February, the Patent Treaty came be applicable in the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as stated the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO). Accession to the Patent Treaty shall simplify formal patent registration procedures for both domestic and international applications. 

International

Celebrating the World Intellectual Property Day

 

Yet another Intellectual Property day was celebrated worldwide on April 26^th 2012. This day is set out to mark the importance of ever developing IP field and to highlight all the contributions that intellectual property makes to innovation and cultural creation worldwide.

Our Sarajevo Office celebrated the World Intellectual Property Day in the presence of the United States Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina.