The conference, entitled, 'Trademark Regatta - Asia-Pacific', "will focus on issues facing trademarks throughout the region, including:

• Issues impacting the future direction of trademarks
• Indigenous peoples and trademarks
• Nontraditional trademarks – A review of Trade Mark Office and Court decisions, and the attitude toward survey evidence
• Protection of famous trademarks and related dilution issues
• Madrid Protocol – Has it been good for business?
• A roundup of Internet issues
• Case studies and successful branding strategies" (INTA website)

"Speakers from around the globe are scheduled to appear as part of the program including Paul Twomey, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, Owen J. Malone, Foster's Group Limited, Ernesto Rubio, World Intellectual Property Organization, Lynne G. Beresford, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Wubbo de Boer, Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market and Woon Yin Liew, Intellectual Property Office of Singapore." (IP Australia News)

The full program and online registration is available from the INTA Regatta website.

Sources & for further information

IP Menu news - The International Trademark Association (INTA) presents its first educational conference in Australia, in cooperation with IP Australia, March 11 – 12, 2008

INTA website - INTA / IP Australia Conference: Trademark Regatta – Asia-Pacific

Labels: Australia

As part of the meeting to celebrate the 25^th anniversary of co-operation of the Trilateral Offices, the Offices have agreed on a single format for patent applications to be accepted by all offices. The Trilateral Offices are the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the Japan Patent Office (JPO) and the European Patent Office (EPO).

"The potential savings for users will be around $100 million per year."

The proposal for a single format was suggested by industries and patent attorneys in 2005.

Source & further information

State Intellectual Property Office of the P.R.C (SIPO) news - Trilateral Offices sign up to work-sharing initiatives

The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) has announced additional features on their Canadian Patents Database and Decisions of the Commissioner of Patents.

The new features include:

• "Highlighted search terms: terms defined in the original query will be highlighted on document detail pages.
• Improved navigation: search results pages are now numbered for easier access to specific pages.
• Toggle between languages: switching from English to French and vice versa is possible on all pages.
• One click access to images: Images are now accessible through a single click. Images that are not available are denoted with “N/A.”
• Database update indication: dates at the footer labeled “Last updated” indicate the date that the content of the database was last updated. Footers with the label “Date modified” indicate the date that major changes were made to the layout of the web page.
• Single browser window viewing: detail pages will open in the same browser window as the search results pages."

Source & further information

Canadian Intellectual Property Office news - "New Features on the Canadian Patents Database and Decisions of the Commissioner of Patents"

WizPatent have recently released their latest patent management software: WizPatent Express. This is a "lite" version of the WizPatent Manager and is fully integrated with Internet Explorer.

Using a single search interface WizPatent Express allows the user to search public databases such as UPTSO, esp@cenet, FreePatentsOnline and Google Patent Search.

Features of WizPatent Express include:

1. "With batch download capabilities and extensive drag-and-drop features, you will have an easy time managing and sharing your patent collections.

2. Via the “Retrieve by Number” engine, you can copy a block of text into your clipboard and WizPatent Express automatically abstracts out the relevant patent numbers immediately.

3. Sharing documents is simple as you can copy and paste these documents directly into a folder in your harddrive. "

For further information

WizPatent - Home

WizPatent - WizPatent Express

The Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) has announced the launching of their online renewal service for Registered Community Designs (RCDs) (E-Renewal). The initial 5 year protection for the first RCDs will expire in April 2008.

In addition, the OHIM is requesting submissions on draft guidelines for renewing RCDs. Comments are to be emailed to vincent.oreilly[at]oami.europa.eu by 15 December 2007.

Sources and further information

Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market news - Electronic renewal for RCDs now available

Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market -E-Renewal

Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market - Guidelines Concerning Proceedings Before the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (Trade Mark and Designs) - Registered Community Design Renewal

IP Australia is requesting submissions on the preferred incorporation model for patent and trade mark attorneys.

“The proposed model provides for individual patent attorneys to retain personal responsibility for discipline and complaints; a Code of conduct to apply to all individual attorneys within a company; and an incorporated patent attorney company must have at least one director who is a registered patent attorney. There will also be a compulsory requirement for all patent attorneys whether they are incorporated or not to have professional indemnity insurance.”

The consultation paper can be found here. Comments are sought by 30 November 2007.

Further Information

IP Australia news - Consultation on the Incorporation of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys

IP Australia - Consultation Paper Incorporation of Patent and Trade Marks Attorneys