You may know that last year the country of Serbia & Montenegro separated into two sovereign states of Serbia and Montenegro. I've had an update from Serbian firm Cabinet Pavlovic about the position of IP rights in Montenegro.
This is what they say:
"Montenegro became a sovereign state on June 3, 2006, when the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro was dissolved. After months of anticipation, the Montenegro Government has recently adopted a Decree which provides for the establishment of a national IP Office. The Decree came into force on May 19, 2007 (8 days after it was published in the Official Gazette No. 25/2007), and stipulates that the IP Office will start operating within the following 60 days. The exact date will be published in the Official Gazette of Montenegro. Additional time might be needed to organize the necessary forms and prepare a schedule of official fees, before trademark owners can start filing nationally.
Montenegro has adopted the trademark legislation of the former State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, without any modifications for the time being. Regulations regarding the recognition of national trademarks granted or applied for in the former State Union are under preparation but have not been adopted yet. It is expected that revalidation will be an option, but the cut-off date and deadlines still have to be defined. For international trademarks, the cut-off date is June 3, 2006, and the deadline is six months from receipt of the WIPO notification.
At this moment, we would advise trademark owners to review their portfolios, select the national trademarks which they may want to revalidate or register in Montenegro, and make sure that they are in possession of the main documents from the file (a copy of the trademark application as filed / published in the former State Union and/or a copy of the Certificate of Registration / Renewal), as these documents might be needed for the revalidation in Montenegro. For international trademarks, trademark owners should double check whether they already designate Montenegro (ME), and if not, they should either apply for continuation of effect or for the extension of protection, depending on the date of registration."
If you have any concerns about your IP rights in Serbia or Montenegro, please do contact us.
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