ISRAEL Law and Practice Contributed by: Ronit Barzik-Soffer, Luiz Blanc and Rakefet Peled, Reinhold Cohn Group
5.3 Ability to File an Opposition or Revocation/Cancellation Any person may file an opposition. Opponents may rely on prior common law rights in a trade mark based on goodwill acquired through use of the trade mark. Opponents may represent them - selves 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 ILS936 for each mark and class of goods opposed, and the average cost for drafting the detailed notice of opposi - tion is around ILS15,000–18,000 plus 18% VAT, depending on the complexity of the claims. Rectification of the register, including cancel - lation 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 Register 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 reg - istrar, and written summations. The parties may, however, agree on a different procedure, avoid - ing the need for a hearing by requesting that the registrar issue a decision based only on the writ - ten documents filed by the parties.
There is no time limit for filing cancellation actions against trade mark registrations on the grounds of filing in bad faith. Registered trade marks are vulnerable to rev - ocation proceedings if they were not used by their registered owners during three consecutive years after their registration. There is no copyright registration in Israel. 5.2 Legal Grounds for Filing an Opposition or Cancellation The legal grounds for filing an opposition include several absolute reasons to refuse the trade mark’s registration in accordance with the pro - visions of the Trademark Ordinance and other relative reasons based on an opponent’s claims to be the owner of the mark. Israeli law recognises the dilution of famous reg - istered or unregistered trade marks as a relative ground to attack the use or registration of a con - flicting trade mark. Trade marks are vulnerable to cancellation pro - ceedings on the same absolute and relative grounds available for filing oppositions, if the registration is likely to encourage unfair compe - tition, on the grounds of non-use or if the trade mark has been filed in bad faith and if there was good faith intention to use the mark. There is no expungement or re-examination procedure available in Israel unless an appeal court decides to transfer the matter back to the registrar for reconsideration of certain points or the entire decision. Regarding copyright – see 5.1 Timeframes for Filing an Opposition or Cancellation.
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