Intellectual Property Office joins Seniority Project

The Slovenian Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) has implemented the Seniority Project, a joint project between the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and the patent and trademark offices of EU member states.

The project aims to establish links among the seniority data in the national and Community databases and make this information accessible online.

Having accurate seniority data is important for owners of Community trademarks (CTM) who have previously registered an identical trademark in an EU member state which has been surrendered or has been allowed to lapse. A seniority claim allows CTM owners to continue to have the same rights - within all the EU member states - that they would have had if the earlier trademark had continued to be valid.

At present, eight national offices (Benelux, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Ireland, Portugal, Slovak Republic and Slovenia) have implemented the Seniority Project.

Maja Žnidarič, PETOŠEVIĆ, Maja Žnidarič