GENEVA - Member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) announced on December 7, 2005 that they have identified a number of topics relating to trademarks and industrial designs for future consideration.
This came at a meeting of WIPO’s Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT). The 15th session of the SCT, which met from November 28 to December 2, 2005, was attended by 79 member states, one observer delegation, four intergovernmental organizations and 11 non-governmental organizations.
The SCT decided that it would look in more detail into the following topics:
Non-traditional trademarks, such as single color marks, sound, movement or shape marks and, in particular, how such trademarks are registered and published, if at all.
The relationship between trademarks, industrial designs and copyright and the overlap of those different types of protection.
Trademark opposition procedures, as they tend to gain more and more importance in times of ever-increasing numbers of trademark application.
Industrial design registration procedures and procedures for the protection of state emblems under Article 6 of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.