SERBIA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Dejan Bogdanović and Mara Janković, Mikijelj, Janković & Bogdanović
Mikijelj Janković & Bogdanović Mikijelj Janković & Bogdanović
Vlajkoviceva 28 11101 Belgrade Serbia
Tel: +381113231970 Fax: +381113245065 Email: office@mjb.rs Web: www.mjb.rs
The Opposition System in Serbia – Assessment After Four Years of Use
may request the Intellectual Property Office (the “IP Office”) to suspend the proceedings for up to 24 months for the purpose of attempting a peaceful resolution of the dispute (cooling-off period). The IP Office is authorised to request evidence of prior use of the trade mark from the opposing party, based on a proposal from the party against whom the opposition was submit - ted. Failure to provide evidence of prior use of the trade mark by the opposing party will result in the rejection of the opposition. However, if the applicant of the opposed trade mark does not request such evidence, the IP Office has the right to uphold the opposition (if it is considered grounded in other legal reasons). What is interesting is that the legislature retained the right for the IP Office to continue deciding ex officio, on relative grounds, the registration of trade mark applications (Article 6 of the Trade Mark Law), in addition to being authorised to decide on absolute grounds. After the IP Office conducts an ex officio examination of the condi - tions for the registration of a trade mark appli - cation (as was prescribed in all previous trade mark laws in the IP Office’s century-long prac - tice), the trade mark application is published for opposition – ie, if the IP Office believes that the application meets the conditions for registration.
The Trade Mark Law of Serbia (Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia No 6/20) came into force on 1 February 2020, introducing “opposition” for the first time in the legal history of Serbian trade mark law (Article 7 and Articles 34–37 of the Trade Mark Law). Article 7 of the Trade Mark Law stipulates that an opposition can be filed by the owner of a company registered before the date of filing the trade mark application against such an applica - tion that contains an identical or similar name to that of the company, or against an essential ele - ment of it when the goods or services are simi - lar or identical. An opposition is not permitted if the applicant for the opposed trade mark had a company with an identical or similar name at the time of filing the application. Articles 34 to 37 set the deadlines and condi - tions for filing an opposition and the opposition proceedings. An opposition can be submitted by a proprietor of an earlier right. The deadline for submitting an opposition is three months from the date of publication, and the applicant has 60 days to respond to the grounds of the opposi - tion. This deadline cannot be extended. Parties
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