Opposition systems offer third parties the opportunity to oppose the registration of a trademark within a certain period of time provided by the applicable law.
An opposition must allege at least one of the grounds for opposition – either absolute or relative – among those that are recognized under the applicable law. Opposition procedures are closely related to the registration procedure. They may be part of the initial registration procedure (pre-registration opposition) or directly follow the completion of the registration process (post-registration opposition).
The Appellation of Origin is the term used to describe products which are produced, processed and prepared in a given geographical area with recognized expertise.
The Controlled Appellation of Origin (AOC) is a French term and describes products for which all steps of the production process are carried out in accordance with recognized expertise in a specific geographical area that gives the product its essential characteristics.
The Protected Appellation of Origin (AOP) is the European equivalent of AOC and protects product names throughout the European Union.
Arbitration is an Alternative Dispute Resolution process. It is the procedure by which parties in litigation decide by mutual agreement to submit their disputes (present or future) to one or more impartial and independent experts chosen for their qualifications and expertise in their sector.
The parties are bound by the decision made by the arbitrator or arbitration body.
ICANN has just revealed that the first new gTLD might be opened for registration in the very near future.
Registered to the root of the Internet as soon as the beginning of this summer, new gTLDs implementation should be followed by a Sunrise notice period from August 29th to September 27th this year, for trademarks owners.
ICANN created the Trademark Clearing House (TMCH) so as to allow owners to exercise a better control over the registration of domain names incorporating trademarks. Indeed, once trademarks are registered in the TMCH database, owners benefit from the priority registration period – the Sunrise Period – and are notified when a third party registers identical or similar domain names.
As from now, Dreyfus, TMCH accredited agent, advices owners to register their trademarks in the TMCH Database so as to benefit from this great advantage before the Landrush and the General Availability periods.
As befits this digital era, I am pleased to announce the launch of Dreyfus new website.
More intuitive, the site offers you a detailed presentation of our services, our collaborators and our partners, providing a better understanding of our expertise to the various facets of Intellectual Property: Trademarks, Designs & Models, Patents, Domain Names, New gTLDs, Google Adwords and Social Networks, whilst also presenting a range of flexible, rapid and responsive tools.
Designed in a streamlined and accessible style, our new website is a showcase for the quality of the work we produce on a daily basis: cutting-edge, efficient services that specifically target the challenges faced by your company within a realistic price structure!
Our professionalism and pursuit of excellence have been recompensed by industry awards and we are regularly appraised as being one of the leading firms in Intellectual Property for the quality of our services.
As a further innovation, our internet site now provides direct access to the Dreyfus IPWeb® platform which aims to consolidate and summarize all the information that we make available to our clients. This applies both to the management and follow-up of our existing contracts as well as to our on-going administration.
Please, do not hesitate to send us your observations, suggestions or feedback: Dreyfus is always ready to listen to fresh ideas.
On May 30th and 31st France’s Midi-Pyrenees region organized a colloquium with the provocative title: “Intellectual Property for small to medium-sized firms in an international context: Jungle Book or Treasure Island?”
A key player in intellectual property and new technologies, Dreyfus was invited to contribute on Friday 31st May in order to share its extensive knowledge and expertise in these domains.
Nathalie Dreyfus, the firm’s director, gave her presentation at a round-table gathering concerning the most recent challenges at the heart of business development. From identity theft to the development of strategies for trademark protection on Internet, especially in relation to new generic extensions, she enumerated the risks to which companies are exposed every day in a context of international crisis. She also gave advice on how to maximize their presence both on Internet and on the social networks.
Dreyfus also led a workshop that gave participants the opportunity to discuss more general topics such as the presence and protection of trademarks on social networks and search engines, as well as exploring current issues concerning domain names.
Do not hesitate to visit the Midi-Pyrenees Innovation website to review the full program of the colloquium at the following address:
European Court of Justice, Decision of 18 April 2013, No. C-12/12, Coloseum Holding AG v. Levi Strauss & Co. (1)
In a case regarding the trademark protecting the well-known “red tab” Levi’s jeans, the European Court of Justice was asked to define whether the use of a registered trademark only through another composite mark (name + design, as one element of the composite mark), could be defined as genuine use.
The problem arose because Levi’s had not used the “red tab” trademark as such, but in combination with the word “Levi’s” written on it. This is a fundamental issue that the Court had to deal with since owners of figurative, color, or 3-D trademarks typically use them in combination with the brand name. Nevertheless, they also need the benefit of an independent protection for the device element.
The ECJ confirms that the requirement of genuine use can be fulfilled if the registered trademark is used in combination with another trademark. The only prior requirement is that the registered trademark has acquired a distinctive character of its own, separate and independent from the combination with another mark.
This judgment follows a line of previous judgments concerning combination trademarks and in particular the Nestlé judgment dated July 7th 2005 (C-353/03) where the Court stated that the “acquisition of distinctive character may result both from the use, as part of a registered trade mark, of a component thereof and from the use of a separate mark in conjunction with a registered trade mark. In both cases it is sufficient that, in consequence of such use, the relevant class of persons actually perceive the goods or service, designated exclusively by the mark applied for, as originating from a given undertaking”.
Formed at the end of the 19th Century, WIPO is a specialized institution within the United Nations. Its official remit is to stimulate creativity and economic development by promoting an international system of intellectual property, notably by facilitating cooperation between member States. Its Head Office is located in Geneva, Switzerland.
The institution is founded on two historical conventions:
The Paris Convention of March 20 1883 (industrial property)
The Bern Convention of September 9 1886 (literary and artistic property).
In 1994 an Arbitration and Mediation Center was set up within WIPO to facilitate the extra-judicial (or alternative) resolution of litigation concerning intellectual property rights. Designated as an official ruling body by ICANN, WIPO is much in demand regarding questions of domain names.
The .ME Registry (1), operator of the .ME extension, have released five exclusive premium domain names TLDs: Around.ME, Hire.ME, Fund.ME and For.ME.
The .ME Registry offers the possibility to companies to apply for operating these domain names.
Applicants are judged on the quality of the services they provide, their references and their business plan. There is therefore a selection based on the projects and their contents.
The purpose of this initial selection is to sell these 5 domain names to companies providing goods and services of quality.
In order for this application to become effective, applications must be filed before June 15 2013.
For any further information about this application program, you may contact us and we will guide you through the procedure.
(1) The d.b.a of DoMEn, d.o.o was chosen by the government of Montenegro to operate in the new .ME domain name TLDs.
Mali, the Central African Republic and Nigeria are relaxing their registration requirements regarding first level extensions, designated respectively by .ML, .CF and .NG. The decision was taken during ICANN’s last meeting in Beijing in April 2013.
Previously, the registration of extensions .ML, .CF and .NG .required local presence, without which only the second level extensions .COM.ML, .COM.CF and .COM.NG were available. Today, the extensions .ML, .CF and .NG are accessible to any company, wherever its head office may be.
The Nigerian “.NG” became available on April 16 2013. There was no priority ‘Sunrise’ period for mark holders. The registration of domain names is granted on a ‘first come, first served’ basis.
For Mali and the Central African Republic, the opening date for extensions .ML and .CF was May 1st 2013. The opening of the priority Sunrise period for mark holders, without a requirement for local presence will end on May 31st 2013. This will be followed by the ‘Landrush’ period for all domain names that must be purchased from June 1St to July 14th 2013, after which there will be general availability from July 15th onwards.
The critical period for mark holders will begin on July 15 2013 since the registrar has announced that he will issue the majority of his domain names at no cost, again following the principle of ‘first come, first served’. However, the applicant will not become the owner of the domain name since the registrar reserves the right to unilaterally remove the domain name and accessibility to it by, for example, adding advertising. Obtaining a free domain name is therefore of little interest to firms.
The risks associated with these new registration conditions are very real, especially concerning fraudulent registrations and cybersquatting, as for instance:
Domain names under the extension “.ML” can be reserved and renewed at no cost;
No procedures to regulate conflicts such as UDRPs have yet been established.
Our advice: consider making defensive registrations in the light of each individual offer. We are here to advise you.
Our site uses cookies to offer you the best service and to produce statistics, and measure the website's audience. You can change your preferences at any time by clicking on the "Customise my choices" section.
When browsing the Website, Internet users leave digital traces. This information is collected by a connection indicator called "cookie".
Dreyfus uses cookies for statistical analysis purposes to offer you the best experience on its Website.
In compliance with the applicable regulations and with your prior consent, Dreyfus may collect information relating to your terminal or the networks from which you access the Website.
The cookies associated with our Website are intended to store only information relating to your navigation on the Website. This information can be directly read or modified during your subsequent visits and searches on the Website.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
Dreyfus is concerned about protecting your privacy and the Personal Data ("Data"; "Personal Data") it collects and processes for you.
Hence, Dreyfus complies every day with the European Union legislation regarding Data protection and particularly the European General Data Protection Regulation Number 2016/679 of 27 April 2016 (GDPR).
This Privacy Policy is aimed at informing you clearly and comprehensively about how Dreyfus, as Data Controller, collects and uses your Personal Data. In addition, the purpose of this Policy is to inform you about the means at your disposal to control this use and exercise your rights related to the said processing, collection and use of your Personal Data.
This Privacy Policy describes how Dreyfus collects and processes your Personal Data. The collection happens when you visit our Website, when you exchange with Dreyfus by e-mail or post, when exercising our Intellectual Property Attorney and representative roles, when we interact with our clients and fellow practitioners, or on any other occasion when you provide your Personal Data to Dreyfus, in particular when you register for our professional events.
Written by Dreyfus24/06/2013 
