- How can we help
- Trademark monitoring
- What is a patent?
- The role of a trade mark
- The contents of the trademark protection law
- Trademark function
- The procedure before the Polish Patent Office
- Trademark protection in Poland
- European Union Trade Marks
- International Trademarks
How can we help
We offer professional assistance in obtaining patents for inventions and protection rights for utility models, from conducting a patent research (searching for solutions closest to the one filed) through obtaining a patent, to maintaining it in force.
Our team offers the following services in particular:
- patent research in national and international databases;
- research in literature, examination of the state of the art.;
- drafting opinions concerning patentability and comparative opinions between technical solutions to assess whether a given solution falls within the scope of patent protection;
- preparation of applications for inventions under the national procedure with the Polish Patent Office and under the international procedure PCT with the International Bureau of WIPO in Geneva, as well as for European patents with the European Patent Office EPO in Munich;
- legal advice, consulting;
- maintenance of granted patents;
- introducing changes to registers;
- assistance in obtaining patents in foreign patent offices;
- conducting civil and criminal proceedings relating to infringement of patents;
- conducting disputes before the Polish Patent Office, administrative courts;
- drafting agreements concerning patents, including licence agreements;
After obtaining a patent:
- we make sure to meet the deadlines for patent renewal;
- we introduce changes to national, European and international patent registers.
Trademark monitoring
As of 15 April 2016 the Polish Patent Office shall not examine relative obstacles for registration, i.e. it does not verify existence of trademarks identical or similar to the mark applied for. The Polish Patent Office shall not inform the Authorized to earlier marks about applications for similar or identical trademarks. The proprietor of the earlier registered mark needs to check himself whether such later marks were applied for.
Under the new procedure the entrepreneur is obliged to monitor all current applications for identical or similar trademarks, and to file an opposition, if any, within 3 months from the date of publication in the European Patent Bulletin of information on application for a new trademark colliding with his rights.
Given the above, we offer you trademark monitoring services which facilitate detecting and eliminating of signs competitive with the entrepreneur’s trademark that were filed with one of the Industrial Property Offices in order to obtain protection and monitor competition’s activities.
What is a patent?
A patent is granted, regardless of the field of technology, for an invention which is new, involves an inventive step and is susceptible to industrial application. By obtaining a patent, an exclusive right to use an invention for commercial or professional purposes is acquired throughout the territory of Poland.
A patent lasts up to 20 years from the date of filing an application for an invention in the Polish Patent Office. The patent can be granted upon proper application, examination by the Patent Office of the statutory conditions for granting the patent and payment of fees for protection. Failure to pay the fee for the maintenance of the patent in the following year shall result in the expiry of the patent. After the patent has expired, everyone is free to use the solution covered by the patent.
The role of a trade mark
The main role of a trade mark is to allow the consumer to differentiate between the goods of the same type manufactured by different producers. Thus a trade mark is to secure the customer against the risk of being confused. The notion of a good in this case can also denotes a service.
The main role of the trade mark we have mentioned serves the interest of the customer, who has come to like a given product or service provided by a given producer or service provider and now should have possibility to differentiate the product he likes from the same type of products provided by other producer. This is also in the best interest of the producer. Thus he is able to keep the customers he has gained for the product, and by investing in research and development, improving the product he can maintain the group of customers and expand it. Large amounts are often invested in advertising, too. The more purchasers of the product, the lower can its price be as it is usually conditioned by the economy of scale. An entrance of other producer with the same or similar type of product under the same trade mark or a similar mark would result in the loss of customers for the first producer of the product.
The contents of the trademark protection law
Having obtained the right of protection for a trademark an Owner also obtains a patent monopoly to use the trademark for professional and commercial purposes in the whole country. The protection period lasts 10 years and the protection can be renewed for further periods of 10 years. For example, the protection of the following trademarks:
- CAMEL has been valid in Poland since 4 May 1920 (No. 4993),
- COCA-COLA has been valid in Poland since 1 April 1926 (No. 13871),
- NIVEA has been valid in Poland since 13 May 1933 (No. 23977).
Trademark function
The main function of a trademark is to allow the consumer to differentiate between the goods of the same type manufactured by different producers. Thus, a trademark is to protect the customer against the risk of confusion. The term ‘goods’ also denotes services.
The essential function of a trademark is to safeguard the interest of a customer who has come to like a given product or service provided by a given producer or service provider and now should have the possibility to differentiate the product he likes from the same type of products provided by other producers. This is also in the best interest of the producer. He has a regular group of customers and acquires new ones - the more purchasers of the product, the lower can its price be as it is usually conditioned by the economy of scale. The entry of another producer with the same or similar type of product under the same or similar trademark would result in the loss of some customers.
The procedure before the Polish Patent Office
Cases concerning the protection of trademarks in Poland are regulated by the Act on Industrial Property Rights of 30.06.2000 (see ‘Legal Acts’).
The procedure for obtaining the protection right for a trademark in the Polish Patent Office starts with preparing and filing the application documents, and then consists in checking by the Polish Patent Office whether there are any obstacles in the form of prior registrations or applications for protection of identical or similar trademarks, resulting in the risk of confusion. In the absence of such obstacles, the Patent Office shall grant protection. TRASET Patent Attorneys and Legal Advisors executes procedures in the field of trademark registration.
Trademark protection in Poland
As of 01.05.2004, three sources of trade mark rights have been available in Poland:
- national registrations in the Polish Patent Office in Warsaw,
- international registrations at WIPO in Geneva,
- EU trademark at EUIPO in Alicante.
European Union Trade Marks
As of 01.05.2004, Poland has been included under the regulation of the European Union Trade Mark (EUTM). In the whole European Union the EU Council Regulation (EC) No. 207/2009 of 26.02.2009 (earlier Council Regulation No. 40/94 of 20.12.1993) on the European Union Trade Mark (see ‘Legal Acts’) has binding force.
The registration of the EUTM trademark in the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) (Trademarks and Designs) in Alicante, Spain, grants its owner an exclusive right to use the same or similar trademark for the same or similar goods and/or services within the whole EU. A trademark is registered under the EUTM procedures after the formal examination as to absolute obstacles to registration and after publication of the trademark and the expiry of the opposition period.
As of 01.05.2004, Poland has been a party to EUTM, similar to 9 other states accessing the European Union at that time. Trademarks applied for protection in the European Union under the EUTM procedure are subject to the procedure of formal examination and the examination of absolute grounds for protection and opposition system. A significant procedural difference, i.e. the lack of examination of relative registrability of an application, and reliance on the procedure of oppositions, has to be emphasized in the case of the EUTM trademark when compared to the examination procedure used, for example, by the Polish Patent Office. If there is no opposition, the filed trademark is registered even if it remains in conflict with another earlier trademark somewhere in the European Union. For every trademark filed under the EUTM procedure the time for submission of oppositions lasts 3 months since the publication date. During this time, the owner of an earlier similar trademark can file an opposition. Apart from an earlier European Union Trade Mark, the opposition can be based on an earlier right to a trademark registered or applied for nationally in a Member State, registered internationally in WIPO in Geneva and approved in one or more Member States.
International Trademarks
In 1991, Poland joined the Madrid Agreement on the International Registration of Trademarks. The Agreement was signed on 14 April 1891 as part of the Paris Union Convention on Intellectual Property Protection. It came into effect on 15 June 1892. Currently, about 80 states are members of the Treaty. The area covered by the agreement is continuously growing. For example, in November 2003 the system was joined by the United States of America, and on 1 October 2004 by the European Union.
Following the provisions of the Madrid Agreement, a trademark can be registered in one procedure on the territory of several or dozens of countries. Such a registration is based on earlier national registration or application of a trademark in the country of the Applicant’s origin. Thus, the national registration or application of a trademark in the country of origin is the basis for the international registration under the Madrid Agreement. As for the Applicants from Poland, the basis for the registration under this procedure is a trademark registration or application at the Polish Patent Office or at the EUIPO Alicante.
In 1996, a Protocol to the Madrid Agreement was concluded. It was joined by 39 states, including a number of signatory states of the Agreement. Poland is a member of both the Agreement and the Protocol. The Protocol introduced a number of significant changes referring to the provisions of the Agreement. First of all, it provided for a possibility to obtain international trademark protection immediately on the basis of the national application in the country of origin. There is no need to wait until the registration, which in some countries is granted after a relatively long period of time.
In order to obtain the international trademark registration, it is necessary to prepare and file an international registration application at the World International Property Organization in Geneva - the International Bureau of WIPO. The filing of such an application and the payment of charges allows for obtaining the trademark protection in the designated member states to the Agreement and/or the Protocol. The protection obtained in the designated states is equal to the protection obtained for a trademark under national procedure in these states.
After the international registration, the International Bureau of WIPO notifies the national bodies of the states designated in the application by the Applicant. The Patent Offices of these states have a limited period of time to refuse the approval of the international registration within their country. Lack of refusal stands for the acknowledgement of the trademark protection within the country. The trademark protection is granted for 10 years with the possibility of renewal for further periods of 10 years. The charges for the protection are paid to the International Bureau of WIPO for every protection period.
The greatest advantages of the international trademark registration under the Madrid Agreement and/or the Protocol are relatively low costs of registration in one proceeding and in many countries at the same time, and a large area covered by the Agreement and the Protocol.
If you want to find out more about services concerning trademarks, send us a query by using the form. We will respond immediately!
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