Patent and Trademark Office joins Seniority Project

The Romanian Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) has implemented the Seniority Project, a joint project between the Office of Harmonisation for the Internal Market and the PTOs of the EU member states.

So far, the PTOs of Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Sweden, the Slovak Republic, Bulgaria, Benelux, Slovenia, Ireland, Hungary, Portugal and the Czech Republic have all implemented the project.

Having accurate seniority data is important for Community trademark (CTM) owners who have previously registered an identical mark in an EU member state, which has been surrendered or allowed to lapse.

A seniority claim allows CTM owners to continue having the same rights, within all member states, that they would have had if the earlier trademark had continued to be valid.

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

Simona Dragoi, PETOŠEVIĆ, Bucharest