Trademark Cancellation Cases Under Egyptian IP Law

Introduction:

The cancellation of a trademark under Egyptian Law may be done through administrative authority (the Egyptian Trademarks Office) or judicial authority. Administrative cancellation occurs when the protection period of a trademark is lapsed without being renewed. The protection period of a trademark under Egyptian Law is ten years and may be renewed during the last year for another period. If the protection period has been lapsed without submitting a request to renew the registration for another period, the Egyptian Trademarks Office shall automatically cancel the registration of the trademark.

Judicial cancellation occurs in the following cases:

1- Article 65 of the Egyptian IP Law No. 82/2002 stipulates that "the person who has registered a trademark and who has made use of it for a period of five years as of the date of its registration, shall be deemed the owner of such a trademark, unless precedence of use by a third party is proven. A previous user of the trademark may, within the said period of five years, challenge the validity of its registration". This means that any previous user may submit a request to the competent court requesting the cancellation of a registered trademark, during a period of five years as of the date of its registration, if he proves that the trademark was previously used by said previous user.

In such a case the court will issue its judgment cancelling the registration of the trademark.

2- When the registration of a trademark is made in bad faith, the concerned party may, at any time, request the competent court to cancel such registration. Based on the above, it is very important to differentiate whether the registration of a trademark is made in a bad faith or in a good faith. This is due to the fact that if the trademark was registered in a good faith and the period of five years was lapsed, the cancellation of a trademark may not be requested. However, if the registration of the trademark is made in a bad faith, the cancellation of the trademark may be requested at any time without being restricted by the period of five years.

3- According to Article 91 of the aforementioned law, any concerned party may request the competent court to cancel the registration of a trademark, if it is proven that such a trademark has not been seriously used for a period of consecutive five years; and the owner of such a trademark fails to submit a legitimate reason for the non-use of the trademark during the said period. This means that in order to apply Article 91 the following two conditions should be met:

• The registered trademark has not been seriously used for a period of consecutive five years. • The owner of the trademark fails to submit a legitimate reason for the non use of the trademark.

Basics of Trademarks for Small Business   Managing the Unmanageable for Law Office/Firms Management   Intellectual Property Monetization Is More of a Moral Issue   

Do I Have To? Protecting Your Trademark

You paid good money to an attorney to make sure your trademark was filed properly, you received your registration certificate and your business is running smoothly. But after a few years you find out that someone else is using a trade name that is very similar to your mark. You go to see an attorney to find out what you can do to stop it. Good news is you probably can stop it. Bad news is it's likely going to cost you a bunch of money that you stand little chance of getting back.

But that's not fair! It's your property. How can this be?

Trademark property is an ownership right that arises from exclusive use. It is up to the owner to protect that exclusivity. Unless someone else's use is deliberately infringing on your trademark, you will have to bear the burden and cost of protecting your property rights. While it might not seem fair, it is the nature of this type of property right. It requires maintenance.

Owning a trademark is like owning a car. To continue to run smoothly, cars need to be driven, they need gas, they need to be registered with the state and they need maintenance. In other words, it is not something you just buy, and the cost is done with. It costs money to use your car and keep it in working condition. With trademarks you likewise need to use it in the market place, you need to re-file your registration every so many years, and you need to defend it from infringement. Unfortunately, that usually means occasionally having to hire an attorney to help you defend it. Like with car maintenance, if you stay on top of it, you can keep the costs manageable.

If your trademark is being infringed and you do nothing, you could lose rights depending on the nature of the infringement. You may lose the use in a certain territory or for a certain market. You may lose the use for certain goods or services. To protect your mark, you should set up a system to monitor potential use of your mark. With the Internet, monitoring use is much easier since most business have some Internet presence. If you've recently registered a trademark, you have likely received advertisements in the mail from companies that will do periodic searches for you. Searches should be done frequently enough to catch infringing use early before the user has expended substantial capital in promoting the mark. The earlier you catch it, the easier it will be to get the infringer to back off the use. For this reason, if you are not going to pay a service to research the market for potential infringement for you, plan on conducting regular searches, at least quarterly, and stick to it.

Trademarks can be a powerful branding and marketing tool. It is a long term investment that is worth maintaining. If you understand that it a living asset that must be maintained, it won't feel as bad when the time comes to defend it.

Basics of Trademarks for Small Business   Managing the Unmanageable for Law Office/Firms Management   Intellectual Property Monetization Is More of a Moral Issue   

Stopping Online Counterfeits Protects Consumers

Despite its long list of supporters who were demanding immediate legislative action against rogue websites, SOPA (the Stop Online Piracy Act), has been called a thermonuclear bomb to destroy the Internet by its opponents, who argued that free speech on the Internet would be thwarted by such regulation.

Consequently, the legislation is now considered dead. Web denizens have rejoiced, sincerely believing that free speech on the Internet was saved from almost certain destruction.

But the reality is that while the Internet has tremendous political and cultural significance and effectively encourages the free exchange of ideas and political speech, voluminous daily Internet traffic involves relatively more mundane commercial uses. Casual users generally seek to engage in routine e-commerce transactions such as holiday shopping and paying bills online, not engaging in political dissent.

Given the extraordinary number of rogue websites engaged in the sale of counterfeit goods and engaging in identity theft, casual Internet e-commerce participants are likely to miss the telltale signs between legitimate sites and frauds. Once the casual consumer becomes defrauded, her primary recourse would be with her credit card company to demand a payment reversal by filing a dispute.

Payment disputes involving cases of online fraud or counterfeiting decided in the customer's favor are often charged against the merchant's account. If the merchant becomes a repeat offender, he may become untouchable, as his merchant bank fears fines and reprisal from the credit card companies.

However, filing a chargeback is not without its fees or hassles to the consumer, fees which can be incurred for just filing the dispute itself. Anyone who has ever been involved in such a dispute can attest to what an enormous hassle it can be.

When the merchant is not solvent (as is often the case with operators of rogue websites), credit card companies may end up "absorbing" the chargeback. Internalized costs may reach $15B. Such costs are not only hits against the credit card companies' balance sheets. These ultimately profitable corporations will just pass these staggering costs along to the credit card user and to legitimate merchants in the form of higher transaction fees and higher interest rates.

So, to the extent that laws aimed at stopping online piracy can help stop thieves from defrauding the casual Internet consumer, such legislation can save consumers fees, lost time and hassles - and credit card companies billions in chargebacks - thus saving you money in the long run.

Basics of Trademarks for Small Business   Managing the Unmanageable for Law Office/Firms Management   Intellectual Property Monetization Is More of a Moral Issue   

An Introduction to Intellectual Property Law

What is Intellectual Property Law? Often referred to as IP Law, intellectual property law refers to the ownership of creations, for example ownership of music, artwork, literature, inventions, designs and ideas. These works are the intellectual property of the creator, meaning they own their creation.

Why is this important? It is important because if IP law didn't exist they could be used by others, possibly to make money from someone else's work. It could have financial value so it is only right that the creator is the owner. This means they have to give permission for someone else to use their idea or creation, and are entitled to a percentage of any profit made. Intellectual property law ensures that an idea or creation is protected where necessary.

Businesses and Brands

Amongst the things that come under intellectual property law is a brand or business idea. Simply thinking of an idea means you own that idea, and if someone else steals it they are breaking the law and are likely to have to compensate the creator. That said, it must be proved this has been stolen. The lines can be blurred but, essentially, if you come up with an idea someone else can't use it without your permission. Company logos and branding is also under the ownership of the creator, much like artwork.

Music

If the lyrics, notes or chords of music are written down or recorded then it is officially the copyright of the creator, so they own the rights to it. It can then only be used by others with their permission. This is true whether someone else records it or it is played on the radio, for example. When it is played on the radio the radio station must pay a fee to the copyright owner. If someone else records it a percentage of the sale must go to the copyright owner. This is even the case if someone performs it live and earns money from this.

Artwork

When someone creates a piece of art, whether it is a drawing, painting, sculpture or photograph, then they are the intellectual property owner. It can therefore not be copied (whether redone or another copy made) without the permission of the creator. Payments must also be made where money is made from this. Museum shops often sell posters or postcards of the artwork on display in their museum. Some of the money made from this, though, must go to the copyright owners.

Literature

When someone writes a novel or a poem it is their intellectual property. Again, there must be permission and payment where someone publishes this. Usually publishing rights are sold to one publisher. They will then be able to sell it, whereas other cannot. Copyright does run out seventy years after the creator's death though. Charles Dickens novels, for example, can now be published by anyone and sold without permission or payments given to his estate.

Intellectual property law covers many areas. The above are just some of the most obvious examples. Essentially, any ideas or creations are the intellectual property of the creator and they own the copyright to their work.

Andrew Marshall ©

Basics of Trademarks for Small Business   Managing the Unmanageable for Law Office/Firms Management   Intellectual Property Monetization Is More of a Moral Issue   

Model Release Form: Important Legal Protection for Commercial Photographers

A model release form is a commercial photographer's savior; it gives photographers the legal right to do with their photography what they wish. If you aren't currently using a release form with your human subjects, you could be limiting your future options to make money -- or opening yourself up to a lawsuit if you do.

What is a Model Release Form?

In general, an author owns the intellectual property that he or she creates (unless an agreement to the contrary has been made). However, when human subjects are involved in the photography, something called "appropriation of likeness" comes into play, leaving the door open for a model to demand additional payment, should a photo you took of that model become a great commercial success.

A model release form does, literally, just that: it is a legal document through which the model releases any claim to the photograph and establishes that the photographer him- or herself maintains legal ownership of the works.

When should a Model Release Form be used?

There's a legal answer for this, and there's a logical answer.

The legal answer: whenever a photo is taken of an individual or group of people -- any time the subjects are identifiable -- and that photo is used for advertisement, a release form is your legal defense for using that picture for commercial purposes. It is not typically necessary to obtain a release if the photo will not be used commercially.

The logical answer: since no one can predict the future, it's best to have a release on file for every photograph you take, just in case. You never know when you might be approached with a licensing offer. And if this happens five years or even six months after you initially took the picture, there's another thing you might not know: how to track down your model to sign the release.

Of course, there are times when a release just isn't necessary. A picture of a crowd, for instance, typically does not require release forms; courts have consistently found that commercial use of a photograph of a crowd in which individual faces cannot be identified is legally acceptable.

(Publishing a photograph of a crowd in which you can recognize individual faces is typically also legally acceptable -- it's hard to claim breach of privacy when you're photographed in public yourself -- but if commercial use of the photograph is a possibility, you'd better have releases on file for the recognizable people in the photo before they sue you for appropriation of likeness! And, for the record, the person in the photograph doesn't have to be a celebrity in order for the courts to support appropriation of likeness.)

Basics of Trademarks for Small Business   Managing the Unmanageable for Law Office/Firms Management   Intellectual Property Monetization Is More of a Moral Issue   

Model Release Form: Staying In Control of Your Intellectual Property

What is a Model Release Form?

A model release form is an important tool that can ensure that you, the artist, keep control of your own intellectual property. The model release form is a legally-binding method by which the model -- meaning the person you took a picture of, whether or not that person is affiliated with any modeling agency -- signs over his or her rights to the photograph to you, the photographer. (Again, anyone can be a photographer to use the form; no professional photography career required.)

How does a Model Release Form work?

Intellectual property, by definition, belongs to somebody -- the creator of the intellectual property. By this definition, someone who took a photograph of a tree owns that photograph of a tree. But what if there is a human subject in the photograph?

A lot depends on how you intend to use the work. If you're using a work for commercial purposes, for example, the majority of court decisions hold that it is not lawful to use someone's image without their consent when used as an advertisement (whether or not that person is a celebrity whose likeness is considered to hold commercial value).

If the use is not used for advertisement purposes, the model does not have many hard-and-fast legal claims to the ownership of the photograph. However, because the law is vague, he or she could attempt to convince the courts that you have used that person's likeness for personal gain, or are using the person's celebrity to add value to your work.

When should I use a Model Release Form?

Technically, you are only required to use the form when you are using the work for commercial purposes. But will your intentions when you took the picture always be your intentions?

What happens if someone approaches you and offers to give you a large sum of money in return for a license to use a photo you initially took for a school website? Are you certain you'll be able to track down your model months if not years down the road? And -- just as importantly -- are you sure your model won't smell a profit and refuse to sign the document until you agree to share some of it?

The choice is clear. Having a model release form signed and in your file for any picture you take is the smart choice for any photographer that's serious about his or her intellectual property.

Basics of Trademarks for Small Business   Managing the Unmanageable for Law Office/Firms Management   Intellectual Property Monetization Is More of a Moral Issue