Munich, Germany

17 October 2008

Round Table Effective Dispute Resolution - What are the Alternatives?

“WHY WOULD I WANT TO NEGOTIATE WITH THE PARTY THAT I’M SUING?” Because I learned nothing but litigation? Or because I want to solve the problems of my client? If you keep on suggesting litigation as the best option for resolving disputes then this Round Table is a must for you.”

Chairman:

  • F. Peter Müller, Patent and Trademark Attorney and Mediator, Müller Schupfner & Partner, Munich ECTA Council Member, Chair of ECTA’s Professional Affairs Committee

Speakers:

  • Myrtha Hurtado Rivas Lawyer, Head of Global Trademarks and Domain Names, SANDOZ International GmbH, Holzkirchen, Germany
  • Jeremy Lack, Lawyer and Mediator, Etude Altenburger, Geneva, Switzerland

Date : Friday, 17 October 2008

Time : 14.15 to 16.30

Venue : City Hilton Hotel, Rosenheimer Straße 15, 81667 München, Germany.
Simon Reeves Gerd L. Koepe
President of ECTA Organising Committee

Budapest, Hungary

17 April 2008

Enforcement at different levels cooperation with customs and recent developments of domain disputes

Venue and co-host: Hungarian Patent Office, Budapest

The Round Table is divided in 2 parts:

  • the first one dealing with enforcement with the cooperation of customs
  • the second one dealing with the new tasks of the Hungarian Patent Office in the protection of trade mark rights, and an overview of the present legal environment regarding trade mark infringements committed by domain names.

Programme

9.30

Registration

9.45

Welcome

  • by László Bérczes on behalf of ECTA and the competent representative of the Hungarian Patent Office

10.00 - 11.45

Enforcement - cooperation with customs

moderator:

  • László Bérczes, S.B.G. & K. Patent and Law Offices, Hungary

speakers:

  • Marius Schneider, EEMAN & Partners, Belgium

Border Measures: an offensive against IP offences

  • Ari-Pekka Launne, Kolster Oy, Finland

Taking the fight agains counterfeits seriously - Case Iso EUR in Finland

  • Captain Gyula Almási, Hungarian Customs and Finance Guard

Recent developments in the cooperation between customs and the trademark owners

11.45-12.10

coffee break - kindly hosted by the Hungarian Patent Office

12.10-13.10

The new tasks of the Hungarian Patent Office - trade mark infringements committed by domain names

moderator:

  • László Bérczes, S.B.G. & K. Patent and Law Offices, Hungary

speakers:

  • Dr. Gábor Németh, Hungarian Patent Offices

The new tasks and roles of the Hungarian Patent Office in the fight against trade mark infringements

  • Dr. Áron László, S.B.G. & K. Patent and Law Offices, Hungary

Recent Hungarian court practice of trade mark infringements committed by domain names

13.10 - 14.00

Soft drinks and sandwiches - kindly hosted by the Hungarian Patent Office

The Hague, The Netherlands

14 April 2008

The Community Trade Mark and the National Trade Marks Are they in Harmony? The Benelux point of view

Benelux Office for Intellectual Property

ECTA organized a Round Table on Trade Marks with, OHIM and the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property.

The Round Table was divided into 3 parts:

  • the first one dealt with the impact of the Community Trade Mark and OHIM on the activities of the National Trade Mark Office and users.
  • the second one dealt with the strategies to protect trade marks in Europe: advantages and disadvantages of using the national, Community or International route.
  • the third one dealt with Harmonization issues.

It would be ECTA’s wish to repeat this Round Table following the same scheme in other EU countries in order to have a better understanding of the effective impact of OHIM’s activities and the CTM system in different Member States and to learn from the experience of the respective users. This would contribute to a debate on the EU trade mark system, which could be useful to the comprehensive study on the overall functioning of the system as proposed in the European Council conclusions of May 2007. We also hope that this project will help to further harmonize the different practices, both from a procedural and legal point of view, at EU level.

Programme

13.00 - 13.30

Registration

13.30 - 13.45

Welcome

  • Edmond Simon, Director General BOIP
  • Mireia Curell, President of ECTA
  • Wubbo De Boer, President of OHIM

13.45 - 15.25

Chairs:

  • Mireia Curell, President of ECTA
  • Dick Verschure, Deputy Director General BOIP

Impact of the Community Trade Mark on the National Trade Mark Office activities and the daily work of the trade mark profession

  • Edmond Simon, Director General BOIP
  • João Miranda de Sousa, Director General Affairs and External Relations Department , OHIM
  • Dominique Kaesmacher, Office Kirkpatrick S.A., BE
    Presentation

Trade mark strategies - Advantages and Disadvantages of using the national, Community or International route

15.25 - 15.45

Coffee Break- Kindly hosted by the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property

15.45 - 17.55

Chairs:

  • Lidy-Anne Jeswiet, Gevers & Partners, BE
  • Vincent O’Reilly, Director of the Department for IP Policy, OHIM

Are the CTM and the Benelux systems harmonized?

From a Procedural point of view

The differences:

  • Maron Galama, Vereenigde, NL

Are these justified?

  • Pieter Veeze, Staff Lawyer at the Legal Affairs Department - BOIP
  • Wouter Verburg, Head of Service, Trade Marks and Cancellation Department, OHIM
    Presentation Galama, Veeze, Verburg

From a Legal point of view

  • a) absolute grounds of refusal in examination and cancellation proceedings
  • b) relative grounds of refusal in opposition and and cancellation proceedings

The differences:

Are these justified?

  • Saskia Smits,Lawyer at the Legal Affairs Department - BOIP
    Presentation
  • Walter Peeters, Member of the Fourth Board of Appeal, OHIM

17.55 - 18.30

Debate

18.30 - 19.00

Drinks Reception -Kindly hosted by the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property