New Trademark Law Enters into Force in Slovakia

The new trademark law came into force in Slovakia on January 1, 2010, replacing the 1997 Law on Trademarks. All trademark proceedings pending on January 1, 2010 will be continued by applying the new law.

The new law aims to harmonize the Slovak legislation with the relevant EU regulations. Among other things, it includes new terminology. For example, the term ‘similarity’ is now used instead of ‘interchangeability’, both to define a reason for denying registration and as a basis for trademark infringement.

The new law more precisely defines the rights of owners and introduces a right to compensation for the damages suffered in trademark infringement cases.

According to the new legislation, the applicants are formally allowed to divide the main application into one or more sub-applications, in order to extract certain goods or services from the main application.

For more information, please contact Jelena Jankovic in our Balkan Regional Office.

Source: Law-Now