Styliana Lefkiou – GIORGOS LANDAS LLC

Navigating Intellectual Property: An Introduction to Trademarks Registration

WHAT IS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY?

Intellectual Property (IP) refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions, literary and artistic works, designs, symbols, names, and images used in commerce. IP gives creators exclusive rights over the use of their creations for a certain period, encouraging innovation and creativity.

There are several types of intellectual property namely trademarks, copyright, patent and industrial design.

WHY IP SHOULD BE REGISTERED AND/OR PROTECTED?

Registering and protecting Intellectual Property (IP) is crucial for several reasons, offering both legal and practical advantages to individuals, businesses, and society. Specifically, it offers the holder of the IP right legal protection and exclusive rights. The holder of the IP right is granted the exclusive right to use or sell or license or exploit their creation in any other way. In the event that the holder’s IP right is infringed, the IP holder shall have the basis to file a legal action, to claim damages or even request the cessation of unauthorized use of the registered and/or protected IP right. Additionally, it offers the holder of the IP right economic benefits, encouragement of innovation and brand recognition. To conclude, by protecting IP, the creators and businessesalikeensure that their investments in R&D, innovation and creativity are safeguarded, creating an environment that fosters continuous progress and development.

UNDERSTANDING TYPES OF IP?

Understanding the different types of Intellectual Property can assist the proprietor to choose the most appropriate protection.

A trademark (TM) is a unique element or combination of elements used to differentiate and/or distinguish the products or services of one business from those of other businesses, such as words, person’s names, drawings, letters, numbers. Illustrations, colors, shape of product, shape of packaging.

A copyright is the protection of the work of a creator, such us novels, stories, articles, drawings, woodcuts, sculptures, photographs, computer programs, animations, databases etc. Copyright is acquired automatically, without the need to file the work or apply to any authority and the exploitation right can be exercised automatically.

A patent is an IP right over an invention, such as discoveries, schemes, aesthetic creations etc.

An industrial design refers to the external appearance of a product, either in whole or in part, which results from specific features such as outline, shape, form, colors, texture etc.

For further assistance on choosing the most suitable type of IP according to your needs and/or requirements, you may visit the following link and complete the available questionnaire: https://www.intellectualproperty.gov.cy/en/450 . For specialized advice and registration you should contact a licensed legal professional.

WHAT ARE THE CLASSES OF A TRADEMARK?

Products and services for which trademark registration is sought are categorized into different classes. The Nice Classification, established by the Nice Agreement and periodically updated, serves as the system for organizing these categories. The Nice Classification includes 45 classes in total, with classes 1 through 34 covering certain goods and classes 35 through 45 encompassing services. Each class is assigned a title that provides an indicative description of the products or services it includes, along with explanatory notes to clarify the terms used.

HOW IS IP PROTECTION ACQUIRED – REGISTERING A TRADEMARK

Almost all kinds of IP Rights can be protected through the submission of an application for registration (copyrights are an exception since they are automatically protected from the creation of them). Specifically, trademarks may acquire protection through the submission of an application for registration either to a national intellectual property office, the European Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) or the Word Intellectual Property Office (WIPO). It is important to note that the registration of any TM requires the appointment of a lawyer as representative. An essential step prior to the submission of a TM application would be a preliminary search on relevant TM databases/registers to ensure the availability of the TM that interest each client, avoiding any possible resemblance with other TMs that are already registered and/or have pending applications with the same classes. Finally, crucial to the registration of TM is choosing the right classes that correspond to the nature of the goods and/or services under each mark that interest each client.

Upon execution of such preliminary search and submission of the application for registration of the TM, the relevant Intellectual Property Office either accepts or declines or returns the application to the applicant, for the latter to cure any irregularities emerged from the submission of the application (if curable).

Once the application is accepted, the TM is published to the Government’s Gazette and/or official registry of TMs for oppositions by anyone with legitimate interest, such as anyone who has a similar and/or identical TM already registered. The period in which the TM is published and able to receive opposition is 3 (three) months from the publication.

In case the newly published TM receives an opposition within that period of three months, then the opposition procedure begins. This procedure consists of the cooling off period, where the parties may resolve the IP dispute bilaterally. If not, the opposition proceeds normally with the submission of the arguments and exhibits of each party supporting their case and finishes with the issuance of a decision from the relevant intellectual property authority.

In case the published TM receives no opposition within that timeframe it is registered as per the submitted application.

DURATION OF IP PROTECTION?

Copyright:	seventy (70) years from the death of the creator or of the last of the co-creators. In case of musical composition, seventy (70) years from the death of the last surviving among the lyricist and the composer.
Trademark:	10 years from registration, renewal available.
Patent:	Annual renewal, beginning from the third year of registration
Industrial Design:	5 years from registration, renewal available.

This article is meant to offer general guidance on the topic. Our legal firm GIORGOS LANDAS LLC can assist with trademark registration in Cyprus, the European Union, as well as internationally, and can address any other matters related to trademarks, copyrights and generally IP rights. For more details, feel free to reach out via our website or email us at info@landaslaw.com

THE REVERSAL DECISION REGARDING THE ACCESS TO THE REGISTER OF BENEFICIAL OWNERS THAT IS KEPT BY THE DEPARTMENT OF REGISTAR OF COMPANIES AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY.

As of 23^rd of November 2022 the Department of Registrar of Companies and Intellectual Property announced that the access to the Register of Beneficial Owners will be suspended for the general public. (Suspension of access to the Beneficial Owners register for the general public, Knowledgebase, News | Companies Section, Department of Registrar of Companies and Intellectual Property)

This announcement was made on the basis of the ruling of the European Court of Justice (CJEE) in joined cases C-37/20 and C-601/20 on 22^nd of November 2022. Specifically, the European Court of Justice ruled the above:

“Article 1(15)(c) of Directive (EU) 2018/843 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 amending Directive (EU) 2015/849 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing, and amending Directives 2009/138/EC and 2013/36/EU, is invalid in so far as it amended point (c) of the first subparagraph of Article 30(5) of Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2015 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing, amending Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Directive 2005/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Commission Directive 2006/70/EC, in such a way that point (c) of the first subparagraph of Article 30(5), as thus amended, provides that Member States must ensure that information on the beneficial ownership of companies and of other legal entities incorporated within their territory is accessible in all cases to any member of the general public.”

The main purpose of the Anti-Money Laundering Directive (2015/849)is to prevent the use of the Union’s financial system for the purposes of money laundering and terrorist financing by keeping a register which contains various information regarding the beneficial owners of the registered entities, some of the information are made accessible to the general public.

During the appeal process, regarding exception requests for the access of the general public to the beneficial owner’s information, of the joined cases C-37/20 and C-601/20 the tribunal d’arrondissement de Luxembourg (Luxembourg District Court) decided to stay the appeal proceedings and to refer some questions regarding Anti-Money Laundering Directive 2015/849 to the Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling. Those questions were the grounds for the reversal decision regarding the access to the register of beneficial owners by the general public.

The European court of Justice ruled that the Anti-Money Laundering Directive 2015/849 regulations regarding the access of the general public to the information of the beneficial owners were invalid because they were violating the right to respect the private and family life and the right of protection of personal data, enshrined respectively in Articles 7 and 8 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (‘the Charter’). Particularly, “derogations from and limitations on the protection of personal data should apply only in so far as is strictly necessary. It being understood that where there is a choice between several measures appropriate to meeting the legitimate objectives pursued, recourse must be had to the least onerous. In addition, an objective of general interest may not be pursued without having regard to the fact that it must be reconciled with the fundamental rights affected by the measure, by properly balancing the objective of general interest against the rights at issue, in order to ensure that the disadvantages caused by that measure are not disproportionate to the aims pursued.” In that case, the regulations were not appropriate, necessary and proportionate and were not reconciled with the Articles 7 and 8 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights.

Also, at the hearing, the Commission was not able to propose a uniform definition of the ‘legitimate interest’ and it was argued that not proposing a definition could be a risk because it might lead to excessive limitations on the access to the information on beneficial ownership. In that respect, it was noted that the fact that it may be difficult and risky to provide a detailed definition of the circumstances and conditions under which the general public may access information on beneficial ownership is no reason for the EU legislature to provide for the general public to access that information.

In conclusion and on those grounds stated above, the Register of beneficial owners that is kept by the department of Registar of Companies and Intellectual Property will not be accessible by the general public. However, access will be granted to the obliged entities by submitting to the RoC additionally a solemn declaration confirming that the information on the Beneficial Owners is requested within the context of performing customer due diligence and/or by proving an arm’s length legitimate interest to access such information.

For further information regarding Beneficial Ownership kindly refer to IMPLEMENTATION OF THE BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP REGISTER – GIORGOS LANDAS LLC (landaslaw.com).

Author: Styliana Lefkiou

Navigating Intellectual Property: An Introduction to Trademarks Registration

THE REVERSAL DECISION REGARDING THE ACCESS TO THE REGISTER OF BENEFICIAL OWNERS THAT IS KEPT BY THE DEPARTMENT OF REGISTAR OF COMPANIES AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY.

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