Iceland: Regulation No. 850/2020 on the Registration of Trade Marks, Company Marks and Warranty and Quality Marks

September 1, 2020

Iceland: The Regulation No. 850/2020 on the Registration of Trade Marks, Company Marks and Warranty and Quality Marks was issued by the Ministry of Industry and Innovation on August 28, 2020, to implement the Trade Marks Act No. 45/1997 of May 22, 1997. It repealed the Regulation No. 310/1997 on the Registration of Trade Marks.

The Regulation entered into force on September 1, 2020, except for Article 4 and paragraph 4 of Article 7, which shall enter into force on April 1, 2021.

The Regulations provide the following new provisions, relating to, inter alia:

(i) Introducing a listing of definitions of terms relating to trademark registration, e.g. the date of registration, obligation to use, registration certificate to confirm registration, etc.;

(ii) Describing the technical and presentation requirements for various types of trademarks in the application, in accordance with the requirements for file format and file size as described by Hugverkastofnun (the Icelandic Patent Office) and published on its website;

(iii) Abolishing the requirement to file a Power of Attorney form in trademark procedures;

(iv) Setting out clear timelines for the trademark application and registration process;

(v) Revising the rules on invalidation, cancellation, and opposition proceedings;

(vi) Authorizing Hugverkastofan to consolidate requests to invalidate one or more trademarks owned by the same party. Such proceedings may be suspended for a friendly settlement between the two parties. Hugverkastofan may also consider requests to annul trademark registrations, in accordance with the final decision of the Appeals Committee or the courts, if applicable.