WHAT CONNECTS THE TRADEMARK OFFICES OF ARMENIA, GERMANY, INDIA AND THE

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WHAT CONNECTS THE TRADEMARK OFFICES OF ARMENIA, GERMANY, INDIA AND THE US?

By Adam Smith

 

World Trademark Review

http://www.worldtrademarkreview.com/daily/Detail.aspx?g=a33d7279-0caa-4d91-84e1-6302644db5dc

June 15 2011

 

New research by an Indian law firm has found that the trademark offices

of Armenia, Germany, India and the United States offer the best online

services for brand owners. The trend of offices providing such services

as access to their trademarks register is moving throughout the world,

albeit slowly. But Armenia, Germany, India and the United States are

leading the way.

 

The data comes from Chander Lall, partner at Lall & Sethi, who was

tasked with convening a session at the recent INTA annual meeting on

effective use of online tools. Preparing for the session, Lall realised

that indexing of office internet resources could be very useful. "There

are numerous new resources available on the internet virtually on a

daily basis," he told WTR. "All over the world, trademark offices are

adding new resources for users." Lall explained that a preliminary

survey revealed that the USPTO was perhaps the most advanced in terms

of online resources. So he threw his net wider, with the following

USPTO services as a benchmark:

 

Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS): Database of registered

trademarks and prior pending applications to find marks that may

prevent registration due to a likelihood of confusion.

 

Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS): To access electronic

forms for domestic submissions of trademark registration or any other

form capable of being filed online.

 

Trademark Applications and Registrations Retrieval (TARR): To retrieve

information about pending and registered trademarks using trademark

serial number or registration number.

 

Trademark Document Retrieval (TDR): To view and download any or

all contained in the electronic file wrapper of pending trademark

applications and registrations.

 

According to the research, no other trademark office offered TDR. The

next tier down from the one containing the top four offices includes

the 26 offices that offer TEAS, TARR and TESS (four of the offices

in this band charge for TESS). The 26 include offices in Australia,

Belgium, Canada and United Kingdom, with perhaps more surprising

appearances from Brunei Darussalam and Yemen. At the other end of

the scale, in the tier established for the offices that offer none

of the above services, entries include Argentina, Bulgaria, Egypt,

Greece and United Arab Emirates.

 

Speaking in the INTA workshop, Bruce Longbottom, Eli Lilly's trademark

counsel, said that office tools like those detailed above can save

in-house counsel a great deal of time and money. "We came up with a

first-step in-house search for knock-out searches," said Longbottom.

 

"That's a cost-effective first step towards clearing. We also look

to do Net searching on engines like Google, because you might find

a mark that isn't registered, but you wouldn't want to use it. Does

that mean that outsource searching is obsolete? No, outsourced search

really has a function. Outsourced full searches are the last step in

a clearance process."

 

There is no doubt that a central index of the world's trademark

databases can be very valuable. Lall's survey, available in an

interactive spreadsheet format, assessed 188 offices and provides deep

links to the websites of the 63 offices that have online resources.

 

"It is therefore a perfect index for online trademarks office websites

worldwide," he says.

 

But its unique position might not last for long. INTA is conducting a

similar survey and will be building its own resource that could surpass

Lall's. "We've collected a lot of information on 185 countries,"

explained Michael Charles Wolnizer, partner at Davies Collison

Cave. "You'll be able to search on a country-by-country basis and run

reports on various questions. It's not finished yet - we have a little

bit of work to do, but it is a useful resource." Wolnizer added that

INTA members should expect the tool to go live by November this year.

 

In the meantime, WTR readers keen to get their hands on Lall's useful

and practical trademark office data can email him on info@indiaip.com.

 

 

 

http://xecutrix.usc.edu/news/msg378326.html

 

 

PS: News like this really suits my mind. There are so many areas of Internet business that Armenia can make a difference. I really wish some real steps were taken to facilitate electronic government.