On February 27, 2018, representatives from the EUIPO Boards of Appeal had their first visit to the Latvian Patent Office. The President of the Boards of Appeal Mr. Theophile Margellos (Théophile Margellos) together with his delegation – special advisor to the Executive Director of EUIPO Mr. Martti Enajarvi (Martti Enäjärvi), Chairperson of the 5th Boards of Appeal Mr. Gordon Humphreys and Chairperson of the 2nd Boards of Appeal Mr. Sven Sturmann (Sven Stürmann) - shared their experience and best practices addressing industrial property appeal cases.
In the morning session, a bilateral meeting was held between the director of the Latvian Patent Office Mr. Sandris Laganovskis and the President of the Boards of Appeal Mr. Theophile Margellos, in which both parties confirmed their willingness to strengthen their cooperation. After the bilateral meeting, representatives from the Industrial Property Board of Appeal met with the delegation for a working session in which both sides gave presentations on their main functions and duties, as well as shared their experience and best practices addressing industrial property appeal cases.
In the afternoon, the Latvian Patent Office and EUIPO Boards of Appeal jointly organized a public seminar on “EUIPO Boards of Appeal Procedure and Case Law”, which was held at the Latvian Association of Architects’ premises. The seminar was aimed at intellectual property professionals – patent attorneys and lawyers who are dealing with intellectual property cases, in particular trademark and design cases.
In the first part of the seminar, Mr. Martti Enajarvi gave a comprehensive insight into the effective protection of intellectual property rights in Europe, while the Chairperson of the 5th Boards of Appeal Mr. Gordon Humphreys introduced the audience with organizational and procedural aspects of the EUIPO Boards of Appeal.
Chairperson of the 2nd Boards of Appeal Mr. Sven Sturmann gave presentations on the effective appeal proceedings following the Legal reform phases I and II and presented the online appeal filing tool eAppeal, which provides convenient way to file an appeal.
Mrs. Dace Liberte, Chairperson of the Board of Appeal, shared with the Board of Appeal experience and emphasized that since the establishment of the Board of Appeal in 2016, the average length of proceedings has significantly improved.
The second part of the seminar was devoted to the latest case law of trademarks and designs, particularly discussed were cases related to the registration of three – dimensional marks. Questions related to marks consisting of both word and figurative elements and how figurative elements affect the distinctiveness were also addressed. President and Chairman of the Board of the Association of Patent Attorneys of Latvia Mr. Jevgēņijs Fortūna told about his practical experience with the Board of Appeal.
Information prepared by:
Santa Siliņa
Senior officer
Patent Office of the Republic of Latvia
Phone: 67220113
e-mail: santa.silina@lrpv.gov.lv
