Durán-Corretjer SLP

On 27 September 2019, Malaysia deposited with WIPO its instrument of accession to the Madrid Protocol, becoming the 106th member of the Madrid System.
 
The Protocol will take effect for the country on 27 December 2019. From that date, it will be possible for foreign trademark owners to designate Malaysia through the international registration system to protect their trademarks.

Last September 9, 2019, five of the Contracting States of the Eurasian Patent Convention (EAPC) signed the Protocol on the Protection of Industrial Designs: Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Russia.

This Protocol extends its protection in the field of the industrial designs in order to make the Eurasian patent system more attractive and beneficial for EAPC Contracting States.

Once the Protocol is in force, a Eurasian patent for an industrial design can be obtained to be effective in the territory of the Contracting States of the EAPC that ratified or joined the Protocol.

Between September 15 and 18, the annual meeting of the AIPPI (International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property) was held in London, attended by Luis-Alfonso Durán and Christian Durán on behalf of Durán-Corretjer.

The conference discussed various current issues in the world of industrial property, such as industrial secrets, the defense of industrial property rights and customs or the future of artificial intelligence.

In this edition and with regard to trademarks, issues related to the various possible defense strategies in cases of trademark infringement were discussed.

Our firm once more is ranked as a leading firm in the field of Trade Mark and Patent prosecution in Spain, according to the British magazine Managing Intellectual Property (MIP), which is the result of an international survey that establishes a ranking of the firms on Industrial and Intellectual Property around the world.

The British magazine of the prestigious Chartered Institute of the Trade Mark Attorneys CITMA REVIEW has published an interview with our Managing Partner, Luis-Alfonso Durán, where he expresses his views about CITMA, the development of the Intellectual Property and its future.

You can access to the interview at the following link.

Last July 17, Durán-Corretjer ended the last session of THE LEX FELLOWSHIP program, welcoming a new group of American undergraduate students in its offices.

As during the sessions held last May and June, the experience was very positive given the high degree of participation of the students in the case, an aspect that undoubtedly allowed analyzing the case in an interactive and dynamic way.

Thank you very much for the participation of all attendees.

New trade mark law was enacted in Myanmar on 30 January 2019 and it is expected to be in force in the year 2020.

 The main changes of the new law are the possibility for trade mark owners to register a trade mark on a first-to-file basis. Also, trade marks registered in Paris Convention Member States will benefit from a six-month priority period. 

We will provide you with more details related to the new trade marks once the procedure and administrative bodies for the new system are in place.

During the days 3 to 5 of July, Christian Durán attended, as representative of ASIPI (Inter-American Association of Intellectual Property), the meeting that took place in the EUIPO on the quality control of decisions issued by said Office.

This project involves various user associations whose representatives analyze through the corresponding audits a sample of decisions adopted by EUIPO to assess whether they meet the quality criteria of the Office.

These meetings allow direct participation in the quality management system of EUIPO, contributing also to improve the quality of its decisions.

Last June 28th, the European Communities Trade Mark Association (ECTA) awarded our Managing Partner Luis-Alfonso Durán as Member of Honour of the Association during a gala dinner that took place in Edinburgh on occasion of the closing of its Annual Meeting.

Luis-Alfonso Durán was the first Spanish President of ECTA in the period 1998-2000, has been member of the Council since 1988 until 2018 and President of the Link Committee with EUIPO. He has also been a very active member of the Design Committee, of the Membership and Disciplinary Committee, of the Law Committee and of the Advisory Committee.

This is the first time in the history of ECTA that a Spaniard is elected Member of Honour.

Managing Partner, Luis-Alfonso Durán, and Attorney at Law and Spanish Patent and Trade Mark Attorney Christian Durán attended the 38th Annual Conference of the ECTA - European Communities Trade Mark Association (official) that took place in Edinburgh, United Kingdom, from June 26-29.