Category: News

Author: Agnieszka Skrzypczak

Obtaining the right from registration of a trademark, whether it is a European Union trademark (EUTM) or a trademark registered at the Polish Patent Office, on one hand provides a wide range of possibilities for building and securing the potential of one?s mark, and gives access to many opportunities arising from ownership of industrial property rights, but on the other hand it also requires some commitment on the part of the trademark holder.

The strategy of management of a protected trademark depends on the owner of the mark. It is determined by a number of factors, such as the owner?s areas of interest, the company of the owner and his portfolio of industrial property rights.

In general, one should remember about three fundamental issues to be taken into consideration after registration:

A trademark, which has obtained protection, must be put to genuine use!

As it has been mentioned above, rights are accompanied by obligations. The right granted in trademark registration (or trademark protection right, as it is defined under the Polish Industrial Property Law) is a powerful tool to build the position of the mark on the market. However, the monopoly held by the owner should serve a specific purpose, otherwise the owner risks losing it.

The key role of a trademark is to distinguish the goods and/or services of the right holder from those offered by competitors in the market. Therefore, it is required that a protected trademark is put to genuine use. If it is not used by the right holder, some third parties may challenge toe holder?s right to the trademark on the grounds of non-use. The relevant regulations stipulate that a EU trademark or a national mark must be used in a genuine way in the European Union or in Poland for five years after registration (the moment of obtaining the right of protection).

According to the Law on Industrial Property ? the right of protection for a trademark may be revoked in consequence of the following:

? the loss by the mark of distinctive features due to the fact that, as a result of the right holder?s actions or negligence, it has become a customary sign in trade ? consisting only of elements that can be used in trade to indicate, in particular, the kind of goods, their quality, quantity, price, purpose, manner, time or place of manufacture, composition, function or usefulness ? in relation to the goods, for which it was registered;

? the actions of the right holder or, with his consent, the actions of third parties, when the trademark is likely to mislead the public, in particular as to the nature, characteristics or geographical origin of the designated goods;

? deletion from the relevant register of the entity with legal personality that was the holder of the trademark protection right.

What is the use of a trademark?

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Life Sciences IP Summit, which is an international meeting of patent attorneys dealing on a daily basis with inventions in the field of life sciences, is just behind us.

The two-day conference was devoted to discussing the current and planned IP regulations, with particular emphasis on the Supplementary Protection Certificate (SPC) procedure for medicinal or plant protection products.

The participants of the event also had the opportunity to take part in a joint sightseeing tour of Munich and numerous networking meetings.

During this year’s conference, Patpol was represented by dr Katarzyna Jedynak.

World Trademark Review has announced its recommendations in the prestigious WTR Global Leaders 2022 ranking.

We are very happy to inform that Joanna Piłka, a patent attorney from trademark and industrial design department at Patpol, is among the recommended specialists from around the world.

Congratulations to Joanna, we wish her further success!

As it befits the jubilee, the hundredth Pharmaceutical Trade Mark Group (PTMG) Conference was filled with unique attractions and panels, combining substantive issues with fruitful networking.

Debates and lectures were focused on improving the quality and effectiveness of trademark protection on the medical and pharmaceutical market, as well as on the current issues related to the crisis, sanctions and new legislation in the US and the Middle East.

We are glad that we could meet our clients and colleagues from IP branch once again! And all this took place in the scenery of the beautiful city of Lisbon.

During the event, our company was represented by Izabella Dudek-Urbanowicz, Managing Director of Patpol.

We are pleased to announce that Nina Jankowska has been awarded in the prestigious international IP STARS ranking as Rising Star 2022?

Nina is a part of a Patpol team since 2015, and in September 2021 she completed with success attorneys exams and become a trademark and design attorney.

On a daily basis, she represents Patpol?s Polish and foreign clients in proceedings regarding trademarks and industrial designs before the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) and the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). She also prepares applications for industrial designs and trademarks in international procedure. She is a graduate of the Warsaw School of Economics and a fourth-year law student at the Kozminski University.

The award is a great confirmation of Nina?s everyday hard work for our clients.

Congratulations and we look forward to further successes!

In a week, members of the Supervisory Board and ECTA Committees will meet in charming Ljubljana!

Joanna Piłka, will represent Patpol ? as she has been doing for many years ? by participating in ECTA Design Committee which is dealing with industrial designs cases and law.

During panels and meetings, the delegates will focus on current issues concerning intellectual property in Europe, discuss the strategic plans of the Association, ongoing projects and the latest IP developments.

See you in Ljubljana!

It has been a wonderful time in Madrid. We are glad that after so many months we were able to meet again in such a large group of friends and also make new business acquaintances.

Thank you for inspiring lectures, dynamic debates and lots of good energy.

During the conference, Patpol was represented by Aleksandra Kryśka, Deputy Manager of the Department of Trademarks and Industrial Designs, and Jakub Słupski, attorney at Patpol Legal.

See you next year.

We are pleased to officially announce the cooperation between Patpol and the PANDA Foundation, under which our firm became a sponsor and took the honorary adoption of suricates living in the Warsaw Zoo.

The act of adoption and the board that will be installed at the suricates paddock were handed over to us by the director of the Warsaw Zoo, Dr. Andrzej Kruszewicz.

Although our contribution is only a drop in the ocean of needs, we are sure that it will help to provide the best care that these cute animals may require.

This action on our part is also intended to encourage everyone to visit and support the zoos wherever the need arises.

It is worth remembering that zoos play an extremely important role not only in making us aware of how beautiful the nature is, but also (and perhaps above all) in rebuilding the population of the endangered species.

Therefore, we would like to speak it out loud – let’s support zoos and visit them … not only with children!

Author: Joanna Rafalska, Polish and European Trademark and Design Attorney.

In the circles of Polish intellectual property experts and practitioners, for some years there has already been going a discussion about the growing need for a coherent amendment to the Industrial Property Law. The Act itself has been amended a number of times, incorporating the changes resulting from the updates in the EU legislation and international laws. As a result, the present form of this legal Act may boldly be considered non-transparent. Too many cross-references appearing in the Act caused that it has lost its uniformity and clarity, and the implications resulting from the specific provisions have often been found hardly interpretable.

Now both professional practitioners and legislators stand at the long-awaited moment, in which not merely “a modification”, but a profound and systemic amendment of the Polish IP Law is to be performed. Simultaneously, one is wondering whether the proposed changes will properly solve the problematic issues, and to what extent they will simplify the practical application of law and conducting the proceedings, or on the contrary – what complications may potentially arise after implementing the amendments.

Below I will focus on the most essential changes that have been proposed in the draft amendment of the Polish Law on Industrial Property in the field of trademarks and industrial designs.

First of all, according to the draft, the double-step payment of fees in the application-registration proceedings before the Polish Patent Office will not be applicable any longer. Currently, payment of the official fees is divided into two steps: the first fee is paid at the application stage (the application fee), while the second one is paid upon registration of the mark (the fee for publication and the first ten-year protection period). After the amendments come into effect, the two fees will be replaced by a single one, which shall be paid at the time of filing a trademark or design application, as it is done for example in the European Union Intellectual Property Office.

In my opinion, this is a very good and practical change, because in Polish practice, a conditional decision (issued on condition of payment of the second fee) often expired due to lack of payment. As a result, a trademark that had not faced any registration obstacles did not obtain registration. The introduction of one fee in place of two seems to be an effective remedy for such frequent cases.

The draft amendment of the IP Law also provides for the abandonment of the joint right of protection for a trademark. The draft will refer in this regard to civil law provisions on joint ownership. Joint trademarks and guarantee marks are to remain without major changes.

Changes are also to be made in the nature and place of publications. Until now, the publications used by the Polish Patent Office (PPO) were the Patent Office Bulletin and the Patent Office Journal. The former published, among others, information on the applied trademarks, while the latter published information on registrations. The draft to amend the IP Law provides for the introduction of the institution of “public disclosure” in place of publication in the Bulletin. The public disclosure of a new trademark application will be of particular importance here, as the deadlines in the opposition proceedings (after the amendment ? the objection proceedings) will be calculated from this date. Similarly, the disclosure of a trademark and the subsequent publication after examination of the absolute grounds for granting protection will take place on the Patent Office’s website instead of the Bulletin.

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