The Tool to Keep Handy - Let's Talk Caribbean TM Class Tool!

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The Tool to Keep Handy

Let's Talk Caribbean TM Class Tool!


Hanna Niamath-Ali Dan

LLB


How can we use technology to support and aid creatives, business owners and entrepreneurs? Can we equip such persons with a tool to assist them in the process of protecting their brands? The Intellectual Property Offices of CARIFORUM states and the CARIFORUM Directorate answer in the affirmative with the development of the Caribbean TM Class Tool. It is a free digital search tool which lists terms of classes of products and services for the registration of trademarks across the Caribbean Region. The Caribbean TM Class Tool was funded by the 11th Electronic Development Fund (EDF) and implemented by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO).[1] Since its launch on 9th December 2021[2], the Intellectual Property Offices of Antigua and Barbuda (ABIPCO), Belize (BELIPO), Cuba (OCPI), the St. Kitts and Nevis (IPOSKN), the Dominican Republic (ONAPI), St. Lucia (ROCIP), St. Vincent and the Grenadines (CIPO) and Trinidad and Tobago (TTIPO) have joined and are currently users of the tool.[3]

 

The TM Class Tool assists users through the fundamental functions of searching and verifying terms. Searching terms allows users to look for goods and services in order to determine which class they belong to before applying for trademark protection of them. This is particularly useful since the description and classification of goods and services are integral steps in applying for trademark protection. The tool provides a culmination of different classifications across the participating member states’ IP offices and allows users to verify whether a particular list of terms appear in the same working language in another intellectual property office of a participating member.  

 

TM Class also provides users with the ability to determine whether a specific product or service is accepted by the Intellectual Property Offices of the member states mentioned above. The tool also consists of a large multilingual database with all pre-approved terms from European Intellectual Property offices and those from around the Caribbean. This database is known as the Harmonised Database (HDB) and it provides certainty that any term contained therein will be accepted after the applicant’s application has been reviewed.[4]

 

It follows therefore, that the Caribbean TM Class tool presents remarkable benefits for the world of commerce and intellectual property. According to Jihan Williams, the Head of IPOSKN, the tool allows goods and services which are accepted by the Intellectual Property Offices of the member states, to be available online for the public, thus benefiting persons who may be applying for trademarks for specific items.[5] Koreen Flowers, Deputy Registrar of BELIPO contended that in light of the fact that the TM Class database consists more than seventy-eight thousand goods and services which are accepted by the intellectual property offices, this renders it much less cumbersome for interested persons to find a good or service that they wish to trademark.[6] Given that it is a tool to be utilised by the member states across the Caribbean region, it also provides transparency across the board.

 

The launch and use of the Caribbean TM Class tool leads the way for the region with regard to modernising the way applicants can go about searching for and protecting a particular good or service. As time progresses, the hope is that other Caribbean countries climb aboard so that an even larger range of terms can be added to the database, to the benefit of all. It is undeniable that the Caribbean TM Class Tool is one that every intellectual property office in the region ought to equip themselves with. 

 


[1] “Classification Assistance.” Caribbean TMclass, 8 Oct. 2021, https://caribbean-tmclass.euipo.europa.eu/ec2/.

[2] “New Caribbean Trade Mark Tool Available Online.” CARICOM Today, 21 Dec. 2021, https://today.caricom.org/2021/12/16/new-caribbean-trade-mark-tool-available-online/.

[3] “New Caribbean Trade Mark Tool Available Online.” CARICOM Today, 21 Dec. 2021, https://today.caricom.org/2021/12/16/new-caribbean-trade-mark-tool-available-online/.

[4] “Trinidad and Tobago and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Join TMclass.” EU Funded IP Projects, CAR-IPI, 12 July 2021, https://internationalipcooperation.eu/en/caripi/news/trinidad-and-tobago-and-saint-vincent-and-grenadines-join-tmclass.

[5] “New Caribbean Trade Mark Tool Available Online.” CARICOM Today, 21 Dec. 2021, https://today.caricom.org/2021/12/16/new-caribbean-trade-mark-tool-available-online/.

[6] “New Caribbean Trade Mark Tool Available Online.” CARICOM Today, 21 Dec. 2021, https://today.caricom.org/2021/12/16/new-caribbean-trade-mark-tool-available-online/.



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