Draft Trademark Law submitted to public discussion

A public discussion on the draft Trademark Law was held in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, on May 15 2009.

The discussion was hosted by French consulting firm Sofreco and officials from the Community Assistance for Reconstruction, Development and Stabilization (CARDS) project entitled “Capacity Building for the Protection of IP Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina”.

The event gathered trademark attorneys, legal experts, government officials, business people and other interested parties.

The draft law abolishes the substantive examination of trademark applications and introduces opposition procedures. The draft law also allows third parties to submit informal, non-binding opinions concerning trademark applications by third parties.

Further changes include:

new well-defined customs procedures and administrative measures for trademark enforcement;
the introduction of certification marks;
the possibility to add disclaimers for generic terms; and
new provisions on the protection of marks for wine and other alcoholic drinks.

The draft law aims to incorporate the provisions of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights and other relevant EU legislation. It was prepared as part of the CARDS project through the joint cooperation of Bosnian and Serbian experts.

Currently, Bosnia and Herzegovina possesses only one law on IP rights, the Law on Industrial Property, which entered into force on August 27 2002. In addition to the draft patent and trademark laws, the project will also prepare laws on industrial designs, geographical indications, copyright, topographies of integrated circuits and plant varieties.

Tarik Prolaz, Petoševic, Sarajevo

Draft Trademark Law submitted to public discussion

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