Recent Legislation
The current United Kingdom Trade Mark legislation is the Trade Marks Act 1994, which implements the European Trade Marks Directive into national law.
The UK Intellectual Property Office radically altered the way UK national trade mark applications were examined in October 2007. Previously, UK national trade mark applications underwent a full examination both on absolute (distinctiveness) and relative (prior rights) grounds. In October 2007, the search which formed a part of the examination of applications on prior rights grounds became an advisory search in a similar fashion to the Community Trade Mark system, bringing into force Section 8 of the Trade Marks Act 1994. No longer will the UKIPO unilaterally be able to prevent the grant of a UK national trade mark application on the basis of an earlier pending application or prior registration for a conflicting mark. Instead, it will be up to the proprietor of that right to oppose the application when it advertised for opposition purposes, although the UKIPO will still advise owners of conflicting application where citations including their marks have been sent to the applicant to assist them in making an opposition.
A fast-track application process has also been available to applicants since the 7th April 2008.
Aspects of UK common law also relate to trade marks, most notably the common law tort of passing off.
Read more about this topic: United Kingdom Trade Mark Law
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