MERCI BEAUCOUP, FREDERIC; SO IT'S GOODBYE DAT; TRADE MARK RULES AMENDED, HOW NICE..

Merci beaucoup, Frédéric

The IPKat posted a comment last week on Magna Doodle v Magna Pro. The IPKat's good friend Frédéric Glaize has now thrown him a link to the full judgment in that case, which you can read too on the magnificent Le petit musée des marques blog.

Right: a different sort of doodle here, by the talented J. T Bruce subjectruin.net


So it's goodbye DAT

The Designs Appeal Tribunal (DAT) in the United Kingdom is the body that hears appeals against decisions of the Designs Registry (which is part of the Patent Office). Since there are very few decisions to appeal against, the DAT is not exactly the busiest judicial body on the planet.

Nonetheless, if and when the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Bill comes into force (see clause 134 and Part 6 of Schedule 23), the DAT will be scrapped and appeals against Registry decisions - like appeals against Trade Mark Registry and Patent Office decisions - will go to the Patents Court or Patents County Court instead.

Merpel has spotted that the same piece of draft legislation has provisions for the protection of cultural objects that are on loan. Apart from anything else, they can't be seized. What if they infringe copyright, she mewses?

Left: The IPKat doubts whether the new appellate arrangements will mean that businesses will spend less time hanging around waiting for the result of their appeals, since he suspects that it'll be the same judges hearing them.


Trade mark rules amended, how Nice ...

Right: Nice biscuits get classified in Class 30

The UK's trade mark rules are amended from 1 January 2007 - a public holiday - by the Trade Marks (Amendment) Rules 2006 (SI 2006/3030). According to the blurb:

"These Rules formally prescribe the Nice Classification as the prescribed system of classification under the Trade Marks Act 1994 ... The Ninth Edition of the Nice Classification enters into force on the 1 January 2007. The Ninth Edition of the Nice Classification will be available on the World Intellectual Property Organisation's website (www.wipo.int).

...

Rule 6 amends rule 46 of the 2000 Rules. This provision enables the registrar to re-classify a registered trade mark where the Nice Classification has changed for some or all of the goods and services in respect of which the mark has been registered.

Rule 7 and the Schedule revoke, amongst other things, two Schedules to the 2000 Rules. Those Schedules set out two previous systems of classification, both of which were based on earlier versions of the Nice Classification system".

So now you know. The IPKat says, if you've got those old Schedules in your copy of the 2000 Rules, why not print the new classification out and paste it in on top of them? You've got all day on 1 January to do it.

Find out what class your goods and services are in here
Why are Nice biscuits Nice? Click here and here
How to dunk your biscuit here (English readers only ...)