Trademark Law Treaty
The Trademark Law Treaty was adopted by the members of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 1994 and went into force in 1996, and is another treaty aimed at the harmonization of trademark laws worldwide. The original aims of the treaty were significantly pared down do to conflicting views of the member countries. What the Treaty has accomplished is primarily the reduction of overly burdensome documentation and procedural requirements.
The main features of the Trademark Law Treaty are:
a) service marks are given the same protection as trademarks under the Paris Convention.
b) only one Power of Attorney needs to be submitted per applicant and the member countries cannot require that the Power be legalized.
c) a single application may be filed covering multiple Nice international classes of goods or services.
d) contracting countries should not require that the goodwill of a trademark be also transferred in an assignment.
e) contracting countries must comply with the provisions of the Paris Convention.
As indicated above, the Trademark Law Treaty is mainly procedural in nature and limited in scope.
