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What is a Provisional Refusal Opposing an International Trademark Registration and What Can I do?
After jumping through all the hoops to register your international trademark, filing the application, and following various quick guides on how to do so, it can be quite concerning to receive a notification of provisional refusal, stating that your trademark, your brand, has hit an obstacle in being protected. What can I do to protect my IP now? you might be thinking. In this article, we will go over what a provisional refusal is, why it was most likely issued, and what you can do to oppose it and protect your brand.
International TM Registration Recap
The first thing to remember is the process of international trademark registration. After being initially approved by the WIPO, the notification is then sent out to all national trademark offices belonging to Contracting Parties of the Madrid Protocol. The national offices now have up to 12 months to grant or refuse protection (18 months in certain cases). If they refuse, they must send a Notification of Provisional Refusal to the WIPO, where you will soon after receiving news of it through the Madrid Monitor. It will probably look something like this.
It is important to note that it is not a final decision, but instead, the Office must indicate the reasons for why it could likely get refused. This could be from either a negative examination by the Office itself or due to an opposition from a third party. Such an opposition will most likely be from a local company, a preregistered TM holder, that believes that your trademark is infringing upon theirs, or is too similar to their own and could get confused.
It should be noted that this is a provisional refusal by opposition, which is different from an ex officio refusal, which occurs when the national office finds a fault in the application and decides to refuse protection of their own accord.
What can I do against a provisional refusal?
The next step will depend upon which country’s IP office put forward the provisional refusal. Each national office has its own specific procedure to deal with the matter. All the necessary details should be included in the notification of provisional refusal you received. These details would likely include the grounds for the provisional refusal, the time period in which you must reply to the refusal and request a review/appeal, to whom you should direct such reply, and if you need to hire a local attorney in that country to assist you with the procedure.
If your request for review and appeal is accepted by the national IP office, you will likely have your trademark application compared with an already existing trademark registered nationally in that country. Depending on what exactly you are wanting to register, the national IP office will compare the shapes, colors, words, and letters included, as well as the similarity of the service/good in relation to the pre-existing trademark, also taking into account the sectorial similarities if any exist. This process may take many months to come to its conclusion, however, every national office has its own rules and deadlines, so you should be very aware of the specific situation of every country. To learn more about a specific country’s provisional refusal rules and procedures. Replying to a provisional refusal will often mean that you will have to convince the national office or a court of appeals why your trademark is sufficiently different from an already existing one in order to be granted protection of your IP. To do so effectively requires not only a strong argument regarding the differentiation of the trademark but also a comprehensive understanding of the legislation and the case-law of that country. Therefore, it is highly recommended that if you receive a notification of provisional refusal regarding your international trademark registration, that you should hire an experienced IP lawyer to help you in the process.
If you are wanting to reply to a provisional refusal, we have vast experience in these procedures and would be more than happy to explain the situation to you and see how we could help out. Get in touch!
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WIPO: Madrid Information Notice – Change in the Amounts of the Individual Fee: Brazil
As from July 18, 2020, the amounts of the individual fee payable in respect of Brazil will change. Those amounts will be:
- 75 Swiss francs (first part) and 135 Swiss francs (second part) for each class of goods or services, when designating Brazil in an international application or subsequently;
- 193 Swiss francs for each class of goods or services, when renewing an international registration in which Brazil has been designated. Where the payment is received within the period of grace, the fee will be 292 Swiss francs for each class of goods or services.
For further information, please refer to Information Notice No. 47/2020.
Moeller IP will monitor your international TMs in the Brazilian TM Gazette for free. Please do not hesitate to contact us at any time with any doubt or questions you may have at trademarks@moellerip.com
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How to Register an International Trademark: 3 Step Guide and other Practical Concerns in 2020
Knowing how to register your international trademark is necessary if you operate internationally and want to protect your brand. It is the best way to ensure that the time you spent creating your brand image does not go to waste or copied by others. The protection of international trademarks is governed by the Madrid System, composed by the Madrid Agreement and the Madrid Protocol. By following the Madrid System, you can protect your IP across the 122 countries that currently agree to mutually protect each other’s nationals’ trademarks – these countries are known as the Madrid Union. In this article, you will find out how to register an International Trademark, the requirements for filing, the duration, and other practical concerns to be considered.
If you need help or advice in the process, our trademark attorney can help.
Requirements to register an International Trademark
The requirements for an international trademark are essentially the same as for national filings. In fact, to receive international protection of your brand, you must first go through one of the national Trademark Offices of a Contracting State to the Madrid System, as we will see later on. First though, a quick recap of what can be protected under this system:
- Logos
- Names
- Images
- Colours
- Patterns
- Shapes
- Packaging of goods
- Sounds
- Smells (with specific requirements which shall not be explored here. Find out more here.)
A single international trademark can protect one or a variety of these concepts all at once, as long as these concepts come together to create a distinctive sign that identifies your brand and differentiates it from others.
However, it should be noted that in order to file for international protection, you must be either:
- A citizen of a Contracting State to the Madrid System
- A legal entity resident in a Contracting State
- A legal entity with a real and effective industrial or commercial establishment in a Contracting State
Scope and duration of IP protection
An International Trademark will protect your brand for 10 years. After this 10-year period, you can file for a renewal, details of which will be covered later in the section titled “Follow up: IP Monitoring and TM Renewal”.
The number of countries in which it will be protected will depend entirely on your filing and where you decide to invest resources in brand protection. You can always request to add more countries to the trademark at a later date through a Territorial Expansion Application, so don’t worry if you want to start small and increase protection over time. This will cost 300 Swiss francs (CHF) plus 100 CHF per additional country. There can also be a variable element to this fee. To be sure, check out WIPO’s Fee Calculator.
How can I apply for an International Trademark?
First and foremost, to register for a trademark internationally, you must apply to a national trademark office pertaining to a Contracting State. You do not apply directly to WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization).
The registration procedure can be separated into 3 steps:
- Apply to the appropriate National Trademark Office
- Examination of trademark application by the WIPO
- Examination of trademark application by National Trademark Office of each requested country
Step 1: Apply to the appropriate National Trademark Office
The first step of the process entails applying to the right National Trademark Office for you. This is relatively simple to find out through a quick Google search. Below is a list of a few of the national offices with links to their websites.
- UK: IPO (Intellectual Property Office)
- Germany: DPMA (Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt)
- France: INPI (Institut National de la Propriété Industrielle)
- Spain: OEPM (Oficina Española de Patentes y Marcas)
- Italy: UIBM (Ufficio Italiano Brevetti e Marchi)
In applying to this national office, you will have to fill in the Form MM2. Once filed, the national office will examine the application. If there are no defects to the filing, they will then pass your application to the WIPO for further examination at an international level. This will usually take up to 2 months.
Step 2: Examination of trademark application by the WIPO
Once approved by the national office, the WIPO will then take their turn to examine your application. This examination is mainly to ensure that there are no defects in the application and that you are a legitimate applicant that fulfills the requirements. Upon approval, it will be published in the WIPO’s International Trademark Gazette, and the application will then be forwarded to the national offices of every requested country.
Step 3: Examination of trademark application by the National Trademark Office of each requested country
The international trademark registration procedure essentially has the same effect as if you were to apply to register a national trademark in all of the countries’ requested. Therefore, at this stage, the relevant national trademark offices will examine your application for any faults and, importantly, any potential IP conflicts with already registered trademarks in that country.
Usually, an important part of the national procedure is to publish the application in their national gazette or bulletin and allow a time period for other trademark holders to voice their concerns. If there are any conflicts with pre-registered trademarks, the national office has one year to communicate a notification of provisional refusal – this time period can occasionally be extended to 18 months or longer.
If there is no notification of such a provisional refusal, the trademark is granted and your brand is now officially protected in that country. Congratulations!
Follow up: IP Monitoring and TM renewal
IP Monitoring
Now that you officially have a registered international trademark, you might feel like the job is over. That is unfortunately not the case. There are many companies and individuals out there who might want to copy your brand and use it for their own personal or commercial gain.
Therefore, to ensure that your hard work has not been for nothing, it is of utmost importance to establish an IP monitoring program. Fortunately, we have partnered with [insert partner’s name here with a link] so that you can rest easy knowing that you are protecting your trademark and your brand image.
TM Renewal
It is also essential to remember that your international trademark is only protected for 10 years. Once this time period has elapsed, you need to file for a renewal. The WIPO and the vast majority of national trademark offices do not send out automatic reminders, so you should either carefully manage this or hire a trustworthy IP lawyer to ensure that you don’t wake up to find that you have to start the procedure again.
Conclusion
Now that you know how to apply for an international trademark, protect your brand and monitor your IP, it should be noted that the actual process can take some time. Moreover, if there are mistakes in your application or a notification of provisional refusal is communicated to the WIPO or any national trademark office, that can further complicate matters and result in lengthy delays.
If you would feel safer hiring an attorney to take you through the whole procedure, you can contact us.
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Typical Brazilian Products and Services are Included in the WIPO Classifier
By Carlos Cavalcanti. Lawyer, Managing Partner at Moeller IP Brazil.
Brigadeiro, cheese bread, açaí in the bowl, Minas cheese, Capoeira teaching, and Chorinho show are some 668 descriptions of new products and services typical of Brazil that, as of June 5, 2020, are part of Madrid Goods and Services Manager (MGS), a product and service classifier from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
This is a simple and effective milestone for Brazilian Trademark Law and Industrial Property. Through easy access to these data at MGS, we seek to ensure that offices in other countries do not exclusively assign products and services that are so typical of Brazilian history and production as a brand.
In addition, the initiative is based on the fact that most of the laws in the world follow the equivalent to that determined in item VI of article 124 of Law No. 9.279 / 1996 (Industrial Property Law), which prevents the registration of descriptive signs when related to the product or service to be distinguished.
The work was an initiative of employees of the BRPto Trademark Directorate that make up the teams of the Madrid Protocol and the Product and Service Classification Commission (CCPS) in partnership with WIPO.
From around 200 of these descriptions of typical Brazilian items, which were already on the auxiliary lists of products and services prepared by CCPS since 2000, the wording has been improved to provide standardization, clarity, and the best information from the point of view foreign users.
Then, developments and expansions were made, resulting in 668 items, with translation into English. The descriptions came from extensive Commission research from a variety of sources.
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China Becomes Top Filer of International Patents in 2019
By José Santacroce. Partner and Head of Patent Department.
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) published on 7 April 2020 a press release summarizing the main activities of the Organization in 2019.
The highlights of the above-mentioned press release are the following:
With 58,990 applications filed in 2019 via WIPO’s Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) System, China ended the United States (57,840 applications in 2019) reign as the biggest user of the PCT System, a position previously held by the U.S. each year since the PCT began operations in 1978.
International patent applications filed via the PCT grew by 5.2% (265,800 applications) in 2019, while international trademark applications via the Madrid System for the International Registration of Marks increased by 5.7% (64,400 applications). Protection for industrial designs via the Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs saw a 10.4% growth (21,807 designs).
International patent system, Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT)
In 2019, the top ten users of the PCT were: China (58,990 PCT applications), the U.S (57,840), Japan (52,660), Germany (19,353), Republic of Korea (19,085), France (7,934), United Kingdom (5,786), Switzerland (4,610), Sweden (4,185) and Netherlands (4,011).
Top PCT Applicants:
For the third consecutive year, China-based telecoms giant Huawei Technologies, with 4,411 published PCT applications, was the top corporate filer in 2019. It was followed by:
- Mitsubishi Electric Corp. of Japan (2,661);
- Samsung Electronics of the Republic of Korea (2,334);
- Qualcomm Inc. of the U.S. (2,127);
- Guang Dong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications of China (1,927);
- Boe Technology Group of China (1,813);
- Ericsson of Sweden (1,698);
- Ping An Technology of China (1,691);
- Robert Bosch of Germany (1,687);
- LG Electronics of the Republic of Korea (1,646);
- LG Chem of the Republic of Korea (1,624);
- Panasonic of Japan (1,567);
- Sony (1,566);
- Hewlett-Packard of U.S. (1,507) and
- Microsoft of U.S. (1,370).
Top technologies:
Among fields of technology, computer technology (8.7% of total) accounted for the largest share of published PCT applications, followed by digital communication (7.7%), electrical machinery (7%), medical technology (6.9%) and measurement (4.7%). Among the top 10 technologies, semiconductors (+12%) and computer technology (+11.9%) were the fields with the highest rates of growth in 2019.
International trademark system (Madrid System)
U.S.-based applicants (10,087) filed the largest number of international trademark applications using WIPO’s Madrid System in 2019, followed by those located in Germany (7,700), China (6,339), France (4,437), Switzerland (3,729), United Kingdom (3,460), Japan (3,160), Italy (2,649), Australia (2,094) and Turkey (1,980).
Top Madrid filers:
L’Oréal of France with 189 applications headed the list of top filers, followed by Novartis AG of Switzerland (135), Huawei Technologies of China (131), Nirsan Connect Private Limited of India (124), Rigo Trading of Luxembourg (103), Apple of U.S. (101), Shiseido of Japan (84), BMW of Germany (78), Henkel of Germany (77) and Richter Gedeon of Hungary (69).
Top classes:
The most-specified class in international applications – computers and electronics – accounted for 10.1% of the total, followed by services for business (8.3%) and technological services (6.7%). Among the top 10 classes, pharmaceuticals and other preparations for medical purposes (+12.4%), and services in the area of education, training, entertainment, sporting and cultural activities (+9.6%) saw the fastest growth.
International design system (Hague System)
The number of designs contained in applications filed under the Hague System grew by 10.4% in 2019, reaching a record 21,807 designs.
Germany, with 4,487 designs, continued to be the largest user of the international design system. The Republic of Korea (2,736 designs) surpassed Switzerland (2,178) to become the second largest users of the Hague System in 2019. Italy and the Netherlands ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, with 1,994 and 1,376 designs.
Top Hague filers:
Samsung Electronics of the Republic of Korea with 929 designs in published registrations headed the list of top filers, followed by Fonkel Meubel marketing of the Netherlands (859), LG Electronics of the Republic of Korea (598), Volkswagen of Germany (536) and Procter & Gamble of the U.S. (410).
Top fields:
Designs related to recording and communication equipment (13.6%) accounted for the largest share of total designs in 2019 followed by furnishing (10.1%); means of transport (9.4%); packages and containers (6.4%); and lighting apparatus (6.2%). Among the top 10 classes, recording and communication equipment (+46.4%) and clothing (+35.1) saw the fastest growth.
Source: www.wipo.org
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Brazil and the Madrid Protocol: What You Should Know
By Vivien Racy. Lawyer and Client Relationship Manager.
Answers to Brazil and Madrid Protocol
As soon as Brazil announced its intentions of joining the Madrid Protocol many questions arise. What would be the implication for Trademarks applicants and representatives?
¿Local representative?
One question and maybe the most important at this moment and which it is not yet definitely solved, concerns the obligation of a local representative. Meaning a local registered lawyer, for the application. Despite the contradiction between the regulation of the Protocol to which Brazil is joining and the Brazilian Intellectual Property Law, this one added to the lobby of the Brazilian Bar Association and Intellectual Property Professionals, the matter is still to be decided.
Facing this impasse, it becomes vital to expedite and precise the Trademarks search before the application. Currently, the search through the system of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is not accurate with respect to the Brazilian database. An effective and detailed search can only be carried out by qualified professionals in Brazil with complete access to the national database and information.
Once an exact search has been conducted it will be possible to guarantee the success of a new Trademark registration. Thus avoiding a costly and time-consuming subsequent procedure of oppositions.
To know more about Trademark Searches in Brazil regarding the Madrid Protocol please contact us.
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International Registrations and Provisional Refusals
By Mariano Tabanera, Senior Trademark Lawyer
International Registrations
Through the Madrid Protocol any national from a signatory country can file a trademark application through the World IP Office designating one or various other signatory countries, obtaining the registration of their mark in several countries with just one application. This saves time and money for the applicant.
In Latin America, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba and Mexico are signatories of the Madrid Protocol. Brazil will start implementing the Protocol in October 2019, and it will be possible to designate this country through WIPO.
Provisional Refusals
However, this poses some risks. Most times, the application is filed designating several countries without the recommended prior registrability and availability search reports, increasing the risks of provisional refusals from the national trademark offices.
When an applicant designates a country, a formal study of the mark is conducted, and sent to each of the national trademark offices designated, who also study the application. The national examination studies the intrinsic registrability of a mark, as well as the prior marks, in search for any absolute or relative grounds for rejection.
In case any are found, a provisional refusal is issued and served to the applicant through WIPO, and given a term to reply to it, including whichever argumentation, agreements and limitations the applicant may deem sufficient to overcome the objection.
Recent amendement to WIPO
Unfortunately, due to a recent amendment to WIPO regulations, any limitation or clarification to the applications must be made through WIPO, and not directly before the national Offices. As a result, the reply to the objection would require a higher expense, both in time and money.
In light of an amendment to the Mexican Trademarks Law, which came into effect last August 2018, coexistence agreements are now binding for the Examiners, as long as the trademarks are not identical. If the owners of the marks consider that there is no risk of confusion in case of coexistence, the IP Office is compelled to admit said coexistence.
Registering Trademarks through the Madrid Protocol
Despite the fact that registering trademarks through the Madrid Protocol is indeed a simpler procedure, the implications and possible consequences of this must be taken in consideration, and the necessary preventive measures (availability searches, possible negative connotations of words or designs, negotiations, agreements, limitations in scopes of protection) should be undertaken.
Lastly, it must be mentioned that, despite the simpler application procedure, Madrid Protocol designations tend to be longer procedures, as there is an international and a national stage, whereas national applications just have the latter.
All in all, designations of international registrations through Madrid Protocol are really useful, and they do simplify the registration procedure for applicants that want to protect their brands worldwide, but the national consequences must be taken in consideration. The professional advice of an IP expert in the region is always recommended in order to avoid conflict and dilations. Contact us to register a trademark without problems.
Source: www.inpi.gov.br/
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Overview of IP filings in Latin America over the Last Decade
In December 2018, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) published its annual World Intellectual Property Indicators 2018 report, which shows IP statistics worldwide. Patent filings around the world reached 3.17 million, representing a 5.8% growth on 2016 figures, trademark filings totalled 12.39 million, up 26.8% on 2016, and industrial design filing activity exceeded 1.24 million. China recorded the highest application volume for each of these IP rights.
Regarding patent filings in the Latin American and the Caribbean region, WIPO´s study report a slight decrease (-0.1%) on the average annual growth from 2007 to 2017, with 57,600 patents filed in 2017.
On the other hand, trademark filings in the region showed a 3.3% increase on the average annual growth over the same period, reaching 715,900 applications in 2017. This average percentage annual growth was similar to that for North America (3.9%) and higher to the one in Europe (0.2%).
Industrial design filings during the 2007-2017 period in the Latin American and the Caribbean region also shows a slight average annual increase (0.6%), with 15,500 filings in 2017.
Below are IP data for the period 2007-2018 according to the statistics published by the corresponding PTOs of the top five largest Latin American economies: Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Chile.
Patents
From 2007 to 2018, patent filings in Brazil have increased 15% overall. However, the number of applications has fallen for five consecutive years, with the decline in non-resident applications being the main driver for the decrease. From 2017 to 2018, there was a slight reduction from 28,667 to 27,551 (-3.9%) in patent filings, although there was a large increase (77.5%) in patent grants, rising from 6,250 in 2017 to 11,090 in 2018. Additionally, in 2018 the patent backlog was reduced by 7.4% with respect to 2017.
In 2018, applications from the U.S accounted for 30% of the total patent filings, followed by Brazil (20%), Germany (8%) and Japan (7%).
Overview of IP filings in Latin America over the Last Decade
Mexico has experienced a slight overall decrease (1%) in patent filings from 2007 to 2018, with 16,424 applications filed in 2018. Regarding patent grants, 8,921 applications were granted in 2018, 5% more than in 2017.
Applicants from the U.S. accounted for 44% of the total applications in 2018, followed by Mexico, Germany and Japan (7% each).
Patent filings in Argentina have also experienced a decrease over the last years, with 3,443 applications filed in 2017. Interestingly, during the 2016-2017 period, there was a 56% decrease in resident applications, whereas non-resident applications slightly increased (4%). Regarding patent grants, these have almost doubled in the period 2008-2017, with 2,302 patents granted in 2017. No data are yet available for 2018.
Overview of IP filings in Latin America over the Last Decade
Except for a marked decrease during 2009 and 2010, patent filings in Chile have been rather steady, with a slight 7% increase from 2017 (2,892) to 2018 (3,100).
30% of the applications in 2018 were from U.S. applicants, 13% from Chile, 9% from Switzerland and 8% from Germany.
Colombia also recorded a 7% increase in patent applications from 2017 (2,049) to 2018 (2,372), and a remarkable 16% growth for the period 2007-2017. In 2017, 32% of the filings were from U.S. applicants and 25% from Colombian applicants, followed by Switzerland, Germany and France in number of applications. No data are yet available for 2018.
Trademarks
Regarding trademark applications, both Brazil and Mexico have seen an overwhelming growth during 2007-2018: applications in Brazil have increased 96% since 2007, reaching 204,419 applications in 2018, whereas in Mexico this increase went up to 103%, with 156,156 applications filed last year.
Resident filing activity has driven this growth in Brazil, with an average of 82% in resident filings during the period 2007-2018. The second country in number of trademark applications in Brazil is the U.S., whose share in 2018 was 4%. Resident filings in Mexico represented an average of 68% during the period 2007-2018. The second country in number of trademark applications in Mexico is also the U.S., with 17,449 applications (11%) filed in 2018, followed by Germany (3%).
Overview of IP filings in Latin America over the Last Decade
There has been a significant increase in trademark registrations in Brazil during the last year, from 123,362 in 2017 to 191,813 in 2018 (55.5%). More importantly, the backlog was reduced from 358,776 by the end of 2017 to 191,535 by the end of 2018, which represents a decrease of 46.6%.
Trademark registrations have increased 150% in Mexico during the period 2007-2018, rising from 49,746 registrations in 2017 to 124,023 in 2018.
Overview of IP filings in Latin America over the Last Decade
With an overall 4% increase in trademark applications in Argentina from 2007 to 2017 and 74,722 filings in 2017, resident applications represented an average percentage of 76% during the period 2007-2017.
Except for a drop in 2009, trademark filings in Chile have been rather stable, with an overall increase of 18% during the period 2007-20018 and 47,407 filings last year. Resident applications in Chile represented an average of 69% during the period 2007-2018.
Colombia has experienced a significant overall increase (73%) in the number of trademark applications during 2007-2017, with 42,725 filings in 2017. Resident applications in Colombia showed an average of 57% during the period 2007-2017. There has also been a substantial increase (71%) in trademark registrations in Colombia during 2007-2017.
Sources: http://www.wipo.int
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WIPO Technology Trends 2019: Artificial Intelligence
By José Santacroce, Head of Patent Department
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) published recently its first report in a new flagship series: WIPO Technology Trends, this first edition features Artificial Intelligence (AI) as the theme.
If you need help with Artificial Intelligence or intellectual property protection, we can help you.
Insights and trends in Artificial Intelligence
The main insights and trends in Artificial Intelligence techniques and application fields, and patenting activity are summarized below.
AI-Inventions
AI-related inventions are booming, shifting from theory to commercial application:
Since AI emerged in the 1950s, innovators and researchers have filed nearly 340.000 patent applications and published over 1.6 million scientific publications.
Notably, AI-related patenting is growing rapidly: over half of the identified inventions have been published since 2013.
Some areas of Artificial Intelligence are growing more quickly than others:
Machine learning techniques
Machine learning is the dominant AI technique disclosed in patents and is included in more than one-third of all identified inventions (134.777 patent documents).
The machine learning techniques revolutionizing AI are deep learning and neural networks, and these are the fastest growing AI techniques in terms of patent filings.
Among AI functional applications, computer vision, which includes image recognition, is the most popular, followed by AI for robotics and control methods.
Different industries
Many Artificial Intelligence patents include inventions that can be applied in different industries:
AI-related patents not only disclose AI techniques and applications, they often also refer to an application field or industry. Twenty application fields were identified in the report, these include in order of magnitude: Telecommunications, Transportation, Life and Medical sciences, Human-Computer Interaction, Banking, Security, Agriculture and Networks (including social networks, smart cities and the Internet of Things).
Companies dominate patent activity
Companies, in particular those from Japan, USA and China, dominated patenting activity:
Companies represent 26 out of the top 30 AI patent applicants, while only four are universities or public research organizations.
IBM has the largest portfolio of AI patent applications with 8.290 inventions, followed by Microsoft with 5.930, Toshiba (5.223), Samsung (5.102), NEC (4.406), Fujitsu (4.245), Hitachi (4.180), Panasonic (4.175), Canon (3.940), Alphabet (3.800), Siemens (3.550), Sony (3.500), Toyota (2.850) and NTT (2.730).
Geographical distribution of patent filings
Most filings are made at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) (150.000 patent applications) and Chinese patent office (137.000), followed by Japan (85.000), the European Patent Office (EPO) (54.000), Korea (37.000), Germany (26.000), Canada (13.000) and Australia (12.500).
Cooperation in AI research is limited, but so is conflict:
In many cases, organizations that cooperated in research are credited as co-assignees on patent applications. However, none of the top 20 applicants share ownership of more than 1% of its AI portfolio with other applicants.
Overall, the amount of litigation identified in the report is relatively low (less than 1% of patents being litigated), which may be due to the fact that products have now yet come to the market and infringement may be difficult to prove.
Source: www.wipo.int
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Peru Joins Singapore Treaty
In the framework of the 58th series of meetings of the Assembly of the Member States of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) held in Geneva (Switzerland), Peru adhered to the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks (STLT), through its Trademark Office (Indecopi).
The aforementioned treaty, adopted in 2006 and in force since 2009, which has 47 member countries currently, aims to harmonize and simplify the procedures for registering and managing brands of products and services, such as renewals, renaming holders, address changes, among others, because it does not require legalizations or certifications in the documents that must be submitted when initiating a procedure and are under its protection.
According to Indecopi, Peru’s entry into this treaty will favor the access of national entrepreneurs to trademark registrations and the maintenance or management of their rights over them, not only in Peru but in all countries that are part of the Treaty.
Likewise, the dispositions of this treaty will be applied to both traditional and non-traditional brands that are submitted in Peru (three-dimensional, sound, movement, among others), considering that Peruvian regulations allow all of them to be resgistered.
Finally, Indecopi indicated that with the adhesion to the STLT, it is expected to raise the level of competitiveness of Peru, by offering greater legal security to investors.
SOURCE: https://andina.pe/agencia/
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