Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks will Enter into Effect on March 16, 2009

Trademark that hologram?  Or a three-dimensional product?  The Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks (“the Singapore Treaty”) will enter into force on 16 March 2009, thanks to the ratification by Australia (which became the tenth country to ratify the treaty).  The text of the treaty was approved by member States of the UN World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in March 2006.  WIPO's Director General, Francis Gurry, said that the entry into force opens the way for the branded goods industry to register and manage trademark rights cost-effectively and efficiently.  The Treaty standardizes procedural aspects of trademark registration and licensing and enables trademark owners and national trademark authorities to use modern communications technologies to manage trademark rights.  Thus the Singapore Treaty explicitly recognizes that trademarks are no longer limited to two-dimensional labels on products. Indeed, the Regulations under the Singapore Treaty expressly mention new types of marks, such as hologram marks, motion marks, color marks, and marks consisting of non-visible signs, such as sound or taste marks.  Click here to read more

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(mew)