A report from good friends Rouse tells us of disruption at the UAE
Trade Mark Office due to implementation of a new internal system.
In summary the UAE TMO has implemented the WIPO Industrial
Property Automation System (IPAS) (details here)
to replace the former bespoke system. The IPAS system is expected to result in
more efficient processes within the Trade Mark Office as well as introducing
greater standardisation and new capabilities. Among the new capabilities will
be phonetic searches and classification of devices (based on Vienna
Classifications). In time it is expected that e-services will be enabled
including online filing, viewing records on online, and so on. The switch over
from the old system to the new took place over a long weekend at the beginning
of March. There are ongoing service delays at the Trade Mark Office as
officials are changing working practices to comply with the process
requirements of the new system. Currently trade mark searches are expected to
take 7 working days. All agents are limited to undertaking only 5 of each
transaction type per day while the new system is being settled in. Priority is
being given to applications claiming priority and other deadlines. The Trade
Mark Office expects service levels to return to normal quickly.
The part of the Empty Quarter welcomes new and improved systems
and believes that rights holders can be tolerant of delays due to
implementation particularly when those delays herald the arrival of improved
levels of service to those rights holders. Agents across the UAE are having to
adapt quickly to new practices, not to mention new forms and report formats. It
may be small thing but this part of the Empty Quarter is deeply relieved to see
that the IPAS system sends out documents in .pdf format, rather than the
obscure .snp format used until only the end of last month.
No comments:
Post a Comment