ISRAEL Law and Practice Contributed by: Ronit Barzik-Soffer, Luiz Blanc and Rakefet Peled, Reinhold Cohn Group
on goodwill acquired through use of the trade mark. Opponents may represent themselves in opposition proceedings, but this is not a recommended practice in view of the litigatory character of the proceedings. There is an official fee of ILS959 for each mark and class of goods opposed, and the average cost for drafting the detailed notice of opposition is around ILS18,000–20,000 plus 18% VAT, depending on the complexity of the claims. Rectification of the register, including cancellation of a registration, may be requested by any person aggrieved by “the non-insertion or omission from the Register of any entry, or by any entry made in the Reg - ister without sufficient cause, or by any entry wrongly remaining on the Register, or by any error or defect in any entry in the Register”. Revocation on the grounds of non-use may be filed by any interested person. Regarding copyright – see 5.1 Timeframes for Filing an Opposition or Cancellation. 5.4 Opposition or Revocation/Cancellation Procedure Opposition proceedings in Israel resemble a trial with submission of detailed statements of opposition and response, filing of evidence in the form of affidavits, cross-examination of the affiants in a hearing before the trade mark registrar, and written summations. The parties may, however, agree on a different procedure, avoiding the need for a hearing by requesting that the registrar issue a decision based only on the written documents filed by the parties. There is no formal preliminary discovery of documents between the parties in opposition proceedings. The statement of opposition and the response need to be drafted in a detailed manner and the evidence filed afterwards needs to conform with the information pro - vided in the pleadings. Cancellation and revocation actions need to be brought before the Trademark Office, however, defendants can attack the validity of a plaintiff’s trade marks in the frame of an infringement lawsuit.
Partial cancellation and revocation actions are avail - able in Israel with respect to specific classes of goods and services. Partial cancellation actions based on non-use are available not only with respect to specific classes of goods and services, but also with respect to specific goods and services. Regarding copyright – see 5.1 Timeframes for Filing an Opposition or Cancellation. 5.5 Legal Remedies Against the Decision of the Trade Mark Office Applicants have the right to file an appeal against final decisions refusing the registration of a trade mark. Parties have the right to file an appeal against final decisions in opposition, cancellation or revocation proceedings to a district court. Appeals concerning non-final miscellaneous deci - sions in opposition, cancellation or revocation pro - ceedings are appealable by leave to a district court. District court decisions may be appealed by leave to the Supreme Court. 5.6 Amendment in Revocation/Cancellation Proceedings A trade mark may be amended in cancellation and revocation proceedings by the registrant, the registrar or due to an order of the court. Possible amendments are changes of ownership; restriction or removal of specific goods, services or entire classes in multi- class registrations; the recording of disclaimers; and slight amendments to the trade mark which do not increase the scope of protection or do not incur a substantial change. Regarding copyright – see 5.1 Timeframes for Filing an Opposition or Cancellation. 5.7 Combining Revocation/Cancellation and Infringement Trade mark revocation and cancellation actions are heard before the registrar while infringement actions are only heard before the courts. Revocation and cancellation actions may eventually be heard before a court, if a request for cancellation/revocation of a
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