17 July 2011
Posted in NJQ iNews - News Stream

The UK Intellectual Property Office (UK IPO) has issued a Tribunal Practice Notice No. 1/2011 to clarify the scope of trademarks refusals. The notice states some amendments where there is partial refusal or a successful opposition, invalidation, or revocation action. In such cases, the UK IPO will now:

1. if it is easy to separate the refused goods/services from the remaining ones: simply delete those goods/services (so-called" blue-penciling”); or
2. if such a deletion would not be clear: add the limitation “save for…” or
3. if even the limitation “save for...” would not be sufficiently clear: invite the parties to provide submissions and/or proposals for the appropriate wording, after which the UK IPO will decide on the appropriate Wording.

This practice will prevent trademark applications from being fully refused in case some of the goods/services are objected or opposed.

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