Insider: July 2020
Our latest news and updates of interest.
President’s welcome: We must all stand together
This year has been a challenging and eye-opening time for our profession. It has forced many of us to work in new ways and kept us apart from friends and family. But it has also allowed us to reflect and look at the world from a different perspective.
In this chapter of our history, it is imperative that CITMA moves with the times and provides the necessary support to our members and the wider intellectual property community.
We continue to host virtual coffee mornings to ensure members have the chance to connect with the profession and with us. We also continue to publish resources and relevant news on our Coronavirus hub to support you during these difficult times.
The death of George Floyd and many of the subsequent scenes we have witnessed have been distressing for us all. It is all too easy to deny that this is an issue for the trade mark profession. Likewise, it is easy to condemn the situation in the US, but it is much harder to look inwards and acknowledge our own problems.
We must use this time to reflect, stand together as one community and show solidarity with our black and minority ethnic members and staff by making a stand against racism and discrimination in all its forms.
We are proud of the work that we and initiatives like IP Inclusive do to support diversity and inclusion. However, there is far more for us to do together to enhance and celebrate diversity in the IP community.
We are starting with how we can tackle various conscious and unconscious biases, in order to let people know that, no matter their background, a career in IP could be for them. After all, a more diverse IP community is a better IP community.
Richard Goddard, CITMA President
Top filers revisited
As we have reported on our website, the table of EUTM applications filed by UK firms, as published in the May issue of the CITMA Review, has been confirmed to be incorrect by Corsearch.
Responding to enquiries from members, which were then relayed by the CITMA Review team, Corsearch has provided the following apology: “Corsearch sincerely apologises for providing the incorrect data. The EUTM data we provided was mistakenly extracted from an internal test application, which included duplicative information.”
Corsearch has now reviewed the data, and we are happy to be able to provide a revised top 10 of EUTM filers.
The original ranking and this corrected top 10 include only those firms that used a UK address when filing EUTM applications in 2019. Many UK firms are now filing EUTM applications through other offices in EU Member States and were doing so in 2019. It has not been possible to include filings by those firms in the updated list.
We will be reviewing which data is most relevant for future reporting, bearing in mind changing patterns of filing following the UK’s departure from the EU.
Top 10 EU Trade Mark Filers 2019*
HGF – 453
Lane IP – 401
Stobbs IP – 396
Marks & Clerk – 393
Cooley (UK) – 252
Baker McKenzie – 241
Murgitroyd – 232
Mewburn Ellis – 231
Withers & Rogers – 200
Haseltine Lake Kempner – 190
*For specific data collection criteria, please see the May issue of the CITMA Review.
Our Autumn Conference returns (virtually!)
Interactive, informative and innovative are three words we’re using to describe this year’s Autumn Conference, taking place on 15th-16th October.
We’re bringing you a brand new way of virtually interacting and attending our annual conference. We won’t be relying on Zoom or a series of webinars, but instead using an entirely new platform.
You will hear more from us about the conference over the coming weeks, so check our website for more details.
Promoting Chartered Trade Mark Attorneys
We have been reaching out to businesses in the food and drink sector about the importance of trade marks and the value of Chartered Trade Mark Attorneys. Thousands of new people have already visited our website.
See the campaign’s landing page for yourself at citma.org.uk/tm2020
Demand for EUTMs grows
The EUIPO recorded a 5.2 per cent rise in trade mark filings in 2019 compared with 2018, according to the organisation’s latest annual report. A total of 160,377 EUTMs were filed during the 2019 calendar year.
The EUIPO also received its two millionth trade mark application in June 2019.
