2019 was a year of positive changes – New Finnish Trademarks Act and long-awaited new members in the Madrid system
The new Finnish Trademarks Act finally entered into force on May 1, 2019. It provides for example a new type of administrative revocation and invalidation procedure for trademarks, possibility to file new applications in English, possibility to apply non-traditional trademarks without graphic representation and many other positive changes. On the other hand, it also limits the scope of protection of old trademarks filed before October 1, 2012 and registered for the class heading or for all goods/services in the listed classes.
WIPO’s Madrid System recorded its 1.5 millionth international registration and welcomed some long-awaited new members in 2019: Canada, Brazil and Malaysia. These countries are important market areas for many Finnish companies as well.
Important notice due to new trademark law in Finland
The new Finnish Trademarks Act will limit the scope of old trademarks (national trademarks and international trademarks designated in Finland) filed before October 1, 2012 and registered for the class heading or for all goods/services in the listed classes.
According to the current praxis, newer trademarks are considered to include only the goods and services covered by the literal meaning of the list. This praxis will also be applied to older registrations after their next renewal, which in most cases means that some of the goods or services will no longer be protected.
When these registrations are renewed next time, the owners have the possibility to file a specification of the list of goods to include terms which have been covered by the registration until now in order to avoid loss of rights. Application for specifying the list must be filed before filing the next renewal application.
Contact Properta for further information: ipr@properta.fi
Read more about the key changes from the website of the Finnish Patent and Registration Office: https://www.prh.fi/en/tavaramerkit/new_trademarks_act_2019.html
New members to the Madrid system (international trademarks)
There are many different international systems that can be used for protecting trademarks. The Madrid System is a cost-efficient way to apply trademark registration worldwide. WIPO’s Madrid System recorded its 1.5 millionth international registration and welcomed some long-awaited new members in 2019: Canada, Brazil and Malaysia. These countries are important market areas for many Finnish companies as well. One smaller country, Samoa, also joined the system which makes the total number of countries up to 122.
Read more about the Madrid-system from WIPO’s website: https://www.wipo.int/madrid/en/
