Israel Patent Office Holds Madrid Protocol Seminar

July 15, 2010


I went along to a Madrid Protocol seminar yesterday, that was organized and hosted by the Israel Patent and Trademark Office. There were feelings of deja vu, with the speakers and most of the audience overlapping with those at a similar event held 3 years ago, when Israel was supposed to implement Madrid, but didn’t due to technical problems due mostly to computerization and meeting the stringent deadlines.

Dr Meir Noam the Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks, and Ms. Nurit Maoz, Head of the Trademark Department, both briefly spoke, followed by Andre Ntamack, Head of International Trademark Examination at WIPO who was the main speaker.

After endearing himself with the audience by using a smattering of Hebrew phrases, he mentioned that it was his second visit and presentation on the subject, so apparently he was also experiencing deja vu.  Ntamack then went on to explain about Madrid and how to file and prosecute international applications. The chocolate croissants were delicious. The coffee was Elite Instant and Turkish (Botz), and there was no tea.

The lecture hall was comfortable though, and apart from the usual internet hiccups and problems with the microphone, etc. the event went smoothly. Andre Ntamack gave Jerusalem as an example of a location in Israel, which, for a UN employee, was quite refreshing. I am not sure if he knew that Malcha, where the Patent Office is, was under Jordanian Occupation prior to 1967.

When asked, he stated explicitly that there were no provisions for rejecting an application that was also ratified in Israel, or where applicant was domiciled or incorporated in Israel or of Israel nationality. Somehow I suspect that Iran, Syria and other members of the Madrid Protocol that do not recognize Israel’s existence, and apply a third-party boycott, will no doubt create some wiggle-room.

Ntamack estimated that the overall effect of Madrid would be more not less work for local practitioners. What is certain is that it offers local industry and exporters with a cost-effective way to get protection for their trademarks, that they’d be advised to utilize.

As is typical of these events, it offered a good opportunity to exchange greetings with other practitioners.

The Israel Patent Office and WIPO are to be congratulated for puttign together a professional event.

Leave a Comment » | Israel IP, Israel Patent Office, Israel Trademark, WIPO, trademarks | Permalink
Posted by Michael Factor

Lower PCT Fees from September

July 11, 2010

The cost for filing a PCT application will drop significantly in September. The International filing fee is being reduced from $1300 to $1147 from 1 September 2010, and, as of 15 September 2010, the Search fees using the European Patent Office as the International search Authority will cost $2185 instead of $2485. Additional page fees – past the first 30 (including forms) will be reduced from $15 a page to $13 a page.

The official fees for a PCT application, will, therefore be about 15% cheaper which is good news for applicants!

Leave a Comment » | Intellectual Property, PCT, Patents, WIPO | Permalink
Posted by Michael Factor

Israel Patent Authority to Hold Patentscope Seminar on Fast of Av

July 4, 2010

The Patentscope Seminar is to be held on 20th and 21st of July 2010. 20th July 2010 is Tisha B’Av, the fast instituted two thousand years ago to remember and mourn the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem. 

Legend has it that the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, passed a Parisian synagogue on Tisha B’Av and heard the sounds of mourning and crying. On enquiring what the fuss was about, “What’s this all about, he learned that the Jews were in mourning the loss of their Temple. “When did this happen?” Napoleon asked.  “About 1700 years ago.” was the answer he received, prompting Napoleon to note that a people who has mourned the loss of their Temple for so long, will merit to see it rebuilt.

In the Modern State, the Fast of Av is  an optional holiday, that workers can choose to take as holiday; the other options being 1 May – the Marxist favourite and Idel Fitteh, the Moslem holiday that finishes the Fast of Ramadan.

Places of entertainment such as theatres, restaurants and cinemas are closed, but many workplaces are open.

Is it appropriate for the seminar to be held that day? I think such a seminar is more like work than entertainment and Tisha B’Av is an optional work day. Personally I think that making the second day (21 July 2010) available for all those observing the Fast of Av is a reasonable compromise and the profession will be able to vote with its feet.

It is, however, unfortunate that the issue wasn’t raised earlier. I imagine an alternative two days could have been arranged with WIPO. Also, how can we complain that the AIPPI held their conference over Simchat Torah last year if the Israel Patent Office is equally insensitive? In some respects it’s like the Israel football team playing on Rosh HaShannah.

Perhaps a suitable gesture would be to not provide refreshments on the fast day?

I hope that other firms will let attorneys take tisha B’Av off as a day of optional holiday, and let them attend the seminar without creating a fuss.

Let us hope that by next year, the issue will be moot.

Leave a Comment » | IPO, Israel, Israel Patent, Israel Patent Office, Jewish, WIPO, patent search | Permalink
Posted by Michael Factor

Francis Gurry Speaks at IP Function in Tel Aviv

May 31, 2010

Dr Francis Gurry, the head of WIPO, came to Israel to receive the accession papers for Israel to join the Madrid Protocol. He addressed the profession in a joint event held at the Dan Hotel, Tel Aviv, and co-hosted by the AIPPI, the AIPA and LES, that was attended by some 60-70 practitioners.

The attendance was a little disappointing but it  will be noted that there is a large overlap between the organizations and a lot of practitioners, like myself, are still jet-lagged from INTA – and some are still in the States.

Dr Gurry was supposed to speak about patent agent privilege and the importance of having international standards. He dealt with this quite quickly and explained why Israel would need both developed and developing world countries to support the move for it to have a chance of being adopted. He went on to relate to international harmonization, and, in light of the growing number of patents filed in the Far East, to call for International Search Reports to be produced by an international team of examiners.

Regrettably, harmonization of patent practice across the globe still seems to be held up by some 150 or so rogue states that continue to illogically resist to conforming their practice to the generally accepted international norms like first-to-invent, grace periods and the like.

Words of welcome were delivered by Tal Band represented the AIPPI, Michal Hackmey represented the AIPA and Hananel  Kvatinsky represented the LES.

Tal Band spoke about Israel joining the OECD and the country’s prominence in creating patents. He suggested that criticism of Israel IP practice (i.e. the US Special 301 report) was more politically motivated than factual and that the correct balance between private interest (patents) and the public interest (generic, non-patented technologies) was jurisdiction specific, and that the Israel balance was reasonable.  

The refreshments were excellent, with a milky buffet including vegetables, rolls, crackers and cheeses. We note that a couple of cheeses were mouldy, but that may have been the point. The coffee was good, the wine disappointing, but there was wine – which is one up on the usual standard of these affairs. There were also a range of fresh fruits and some really excellent chocolate brownies.

Leave a Comment » | Intellectual Property, Israel IP, Israel Patent Office, Madrid Protocol, WIPO | Permalink
Posted by Michael Factor

Israel joins the Madrid Protocol

May 31, 2010

Last week, the Israel Government voted to join the Madrid Protocol for the registration of trademarks,and today, on behalf of the Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr. Meir Noam, Israel Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks presented a letter to Francis Gurry, the Director of the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO).

Israel amended her laws to facilitate this a couple of years ago, but, due to problems with the trademark website, implementation was put off indefinitely. Now the treaty will come into effect in three months time on September 1, 2010.

Dr Noam, Nurit Maoz, Li Maor and everyone else who was involved behind the scenes are to be congratulated.

Leave a Comment » | Intellectual Property, Israel Patent Office, Israel Trademark, News, WIPO, trademarks | Permalink
Posted by Michael Factor

WIPO Rebrands With New Logo

April 26, 2010

The World Intellectual Property Organization has announced that it is adopting a new logo for the 21st Century.

This seems as good a way as any to mark World IP Day!

Actually, WIPO is merely jumping onto a rolling bandwagon, with the various national Patent Offices becoming Authorities and choosing new badges for themselves.

I hope Frances Gurry, the head of WIPO who kindly sent me a press release about the new branding will forgive me for pointing out that the new logo is reminiscent of a tube of Sensodyne toothpaste.

Anyway, in the interest of avoiding embarrassment for them losing their new image, I hereby offer my services to WIPO to help them register their mark as a trademark in Israel!

Leave a Comment » | WIPO, trademarks | Permalink
Posted by Michael Factor

Israel to Join Madrid Protocol

April 9, 2010

In a much-waited for development, the Israel Patent and Trademark Office has announced that Israel is to implement the Madrid Protocol.

On 31 May 2010, Frances Gurry, Director of WIPO will pay an official visit to Israel and formally announce Israel’s ascendency to the Protocol. Implemented will take place some 3 months later on 1 September 2010.

The protocol will enable Israeli firms to file trademarks in Israel, and barring oppositions, get a decision as to registerability within 12 months. Using local representation, Israeli firms will be able to extend protection to some or all of the 67 other member a vastly reduced cost, making export to the global market place more attractive.

It will likewise become easier for foreign entities to register marks in Israel.

The Knesset amended the Trademark Ordinance to facilitate joining the Madrid Protocol back in 2007. However, implementation was held up due to problems with computerization of the Trademark Examination Department and associated difficulties in meeting the tough deadlines.

These problems were gradually ironed out due to tremendous work by the dedicated and capable trademark examiners lead by Nurit Maoz.

Dr. Meir Noam – the Commissioner of Patents, Ms. Nurit Maoz, Head of the Trademark Department, Ms Lee Maor – Head of the Israel Desk at WIPO, and the other people who finally brought this to fruition are all to be congratulated for this achievement, and we hope and trust that there are no more hiccups in implementation.

Leave a Comment » | Intellectual Property, Israel, Israel Trademark, Madrid Protocol, WIPO, trademarks | Permalink
Posted by Michael Factor

Reduction in PCT Search Fees at the EPO

March 22, 2010

As of 1 April 2010, the search fees payable to the EPO as an International Search Authority of the PCT will be $US 2485 instead of $US 2515, as previously.

This is not an April fools day joke.  I suspect that the reduction reflects the relative strengths of the Euro and the US Dollar, and possibly the fact that the USPTO is actually performing searches and not merely accepting payment for same.

Leave a Comment » | EPO, PCT, WIPO, patent search | Permalink
Posted by Michael Factor

Madrid Trademark Filings Down 16% on 2009

March 21, 2010

According to the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), new trademark application filings dropped by 16% with some 35,195 applications for trademarks received in 2009, compared to 42,075 in 2008.

In Japan, trademark filings were up a modest 2.7 percent, despite patent filings there being significantly down. In Singapore, trademark filings are up 20% and in South Korea, they are up by a third. It seems that the Far East was less badly hit than Europe or the US by the recent recession.

Israel has not yet implemented the Madrid Protocol. I suspect it will do so in June. We’ll see.

Leave a Comment » | Madrid Protocol, WIPO, trademarks | Permalink
Posted by Michael Factor

Israel Patent Office to be closed from 29th March to 6th April for Pesach

March 3, 2010

The Israel Patent Office is to be closed from the 29th March 2010 to 6th April 2010 for Pesach (Passover).

As occurs a few times a century, there is agreement between the Western (Catholic and Anglican protestant) and the Eastern (Greek Orthodox) churches that Easter Sunday is 4th April 2010, so the Israel Patent Office is simultaneously closed for Easter. ( am not using the word ‘coincidentally’ - since there is a correlation between Easter and Pesach of course).

Ramadan finishes just before Rosh Hashana so the Israel Patent Office will apparently be open over Ramadan and Idel Fitteh.

Any deadlines occurring over the closure will be extended until 7 April 2010. There is a legal loophole that could be utilized by foreign entities missing a Paris Convention deadline for filing PCT applications to gain an extension. Please contact me if there is a need to do so, and we will explain the procedure.

Leave a Comment » | Intellectual Property, Israel, Israel IP, Israel Patent Office, Israel Related, PCT, Patents, WIPO | Permalink
Posted by Michael Factor

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