The Korean Intellectual Property Office recently updated the Trademark Examination Guidelines, the Similar Goods Examination Guidelines and the Trademark Act Enforcement Rules. The updates affect, among other things, Class 09 software descriptions and non-traditional and foreign language trademarks. This article summarises the most noteworthy changes.
Cambodia has recorded Kampot Pepper as the first geographical indication (GI) registered via the Geneva Act of WIPO’s Lisbon System, which provides protection for names identifying the geographic origin of products such as coffee, tea, cheese, wine, pottery, and cloth.
To implement the Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 (TMA), we’re proposing changes to the Trademark rules of practice. The proposed changes, when implemented, will give U.S. businesses new tools to clear away unused registered trademarks from the federal trademark register and will give the USPTO the ability to move applications through the system more efficiently.
The TMA has created three new tools to address this goal. Specifically, the TMA (i) provides for a broader and easier Letter of Protest system; (ii) creates a streamlined expungement procedure; and (iii) establishes new grounds for the re-examination of a registration.