Effective January 1, 2019, the Czech Industrial Property Office ceased rejecting trademark applications ex officio based on prior conflicting identical registered trademarks. Rather, trademark owners must monitor published marks and oppose any conflicting marks within three months of publication. Additional changes include the ability to register certification marks, as well as “non-conventional” marks, such as sounds, smells, holographs and other representations as long as they can be clearly identified. Among other changes, the owner of an opposed mark may now require proof of use of marks on which an opposition is based if they have been registered for five years or more. We are monitoring these developments and will report further as necessary.
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