Annual Technical Report 2005 on Trademark Information Activities submitted by The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (SCIT/ATR/TM/2005/MK)
Where URLs are requested below, it is preferred that either URLs which are likely to remain stable over time (three years or more) are provided, or home (main) page URLs are provided with a short explanation of how to access the corresponding information.
I. Evolution of registration activities
In the year 2005, the total number of trademark applications (including national applications and international applications - Madrid System) was 5,329, which compared with the previous year 2004, when the total number of trademark applications was 4,221, is an increase of 26.2%. In 2004, the number of trademark registrations was 294 and in 2005, the total number of trademark registrations was 624 which was an increase of 112.3% in the number of trademark registrations in the Office.
According to the International Classification of Products and Services, (Nice agreement) the situation with the received trademark applications by classes has changed significantly in comparison to last year. Thus, the majority of the applications in 2005 were for pharmaceutical products, class 5 of the Nice classification (247 applications with 11.7% participation). In second place were application with reference to the class 30 (204 applications and participation of 9.6%) and in third place was class 35 (150 applications and participation of 7.1%). These first three were followed by the applications for the goods in the class 29 (114 applications and participation of 5.4%) and the applications related to class 09 (109 applications and participation of 5.1%) and to class 32 also (109 applications and participation of 5.1%).This data indicate high interest for trademark protection in the area of pharmaceutical industry, class 05 and food industry, class 30, which may be attributed to the existence of the pharmaceutical and food industry in the Republic of Macedonia.
In 2005 the number of trademark applications filed under the national procedure by the national applicants constituted 41.3% of the total number of applications filed, The number of the countries which filed trademarks applications under the national procedure is 46. The most active applicants were from US (188 applications) HR (70 applications), YU (68 applications), DE (52 applications).
The internationally registered Macedonian trademarks within the framework of the Madrid System ( Madrid Agreement and Madrid Protocol) in 2005 were on the same level of the previous year. In 2004 the State Office of Industrial Property has internationally registered 7 trademarks and 1 territorial extension. In 2005 the number of internationally registered trademarks was 7 and no territorial extension.
In 2005 within the framework of the Madrid System 3659 international trademark applications were received and 620 territorial extensions where the applicants were members of the Madrid Union and request protection in Republic of Macedonia. In that context the most applications were from Germany 23.5%, Italy 7.7%, France 7.5% Switzerland 5.8%, and according to the participation of the countries in the total number of the applications we recognized that there were no changes in the position kept by countries in 2004 (Germany 27.7%, Italy 8.6%, France 7.9% and Switzerland 6.3%).
In 2005, 999 trademarks were renewed, 703 changes in the trademark registers were made, and 899 cancellations of registrations of the trademark were issued.
II. Matters concerning the generation, reproduction, and distribution of secondary sources of trademark information, i.e., trademark gazettes
The Industrial Property Protection Office of the Republic of Macedonia issues the official gazette “Glasnik”. The Gazette is issued every three months. This official gazette contains data concerning:
-Trademark applications
-Trademark registrations
-Trademark renewals
-Trademark assignments
-Change of data concerning trademark owners
- Change in the list of goods and services
-Registration of license agreements in respect of trademarks
-Cancellations of national trademarks
-Official decisions,
and information regarding other activities of the Office, in the country and abroad. There are very often commentaries of ongoing activities in protection of industrial property rights. The Office issues an Annual Report of its activities from the previous year. This Report contains basic data for trademarks.
III. Matters concerning classifying, reclassifying and indexing of trademark information
The Industrial Property Protection Office of the Republic of Macedonia uses International Classification of Goods and Services for the purposes of the registration of Marks (Nice Classification).
Bibliographic data of trademark applications and registered trademarks are stored in a database on magnetic disc and they are machine searchable.
WIPO Standard ST.60 is used for bibliographic data coding.
IV. Trademark manual search file establishment and upkeep
Trademark files are kept in paper form in the library, and they are updated continuously.
V. Activities in the field of computerized trademark search systems
From the beginning of the 2004 the Office, in cooperation with WIPO, started the implementation of the IPAS Software for the Patents and Trademarks domain.
- Administrative management systems:
IPAS Software
The 2005 was the second consecutive year since the implementation of the IPAS software in the Office and it was marked by a significant increase in productivity resulting in an equivalent decrease in the backlog of Trademarks.
However, the WIPO ROMARIN web side is widely used for researches of the international trademarks.
VI. Administration of trademark services available to the public (relating to facilities, e.g., for lodging applications, registering trademarks, assisting clients with search procedures, obtaining official publications and registry extracts)
The Office disposes of information relating to trademarks entered into the Office register.
The Library has a collection of relevant publications and periodicals, which are available to all interested persons at the Office library.
VII. Matters concerning mutual exchange of trademark documentation and information
The Office sends and receives trademark gazettes in paper form. The official gazettes, as well as the Annual Report are distributed to the following countries: AM, AL, AT, AZ, BA, BG, BY, CH, DE, EG, FR, GB, HU, IT, IL, JP, LV, LT, MD, PL, , RO, RU, SI, SM, SE, SK, TR, UA, US, YU AND EIPO AND EPO. The Office receives gazettes and annual reports from the following countries: ER, BA, BY, HR, MD, PL, SL, UA, RU AND YU.
VIII. Matters concerning education and training including technical assistance to developing countries
In the year 2005, the educational and training activities of the employees of the Trademark Department was as follows:
WIPO
Seminar: Madrid System for International Registrations of Marks (January, Geneva)
In 2005 State Office of Industrial Property (SOIP) in cooperation with WIPO organized seminar “Trademark Issues. The participants from the offices of the Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Serbia and Monte Negro and Turkey were invited.
CARDS Work program- Regional Industrial and Intellectual Property Rights
Seminar: Trademarks and design (Tirana Albania)
Workshop: Trademark cases (Alicante Spain)
IX. Other relevant matters