The amendment implements into Slovenian legislation the EU Directive 2015/2436 to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to trade marks. Consequently, the amendment brings the Slovenian trademark legislation considerably closer to the regulation of EU trademarks.

Most notable changes, introduced by the ZIL-1E amendment, are as follows:

– the definition of trademark no longer requires the mark to be graphically represented. Instead, it is enough that the mark is represented in any appropriate form using generally available technology (this implicitly introduces sound marks, movement marks, multimedia marks, even holographic marks …);
– absolute grounds for refusal of registration are revised, as they no longer contain grounds not included in the Directive …, whereas additional grounds, such as opposition to traditional terms for wines, opposition to traditional specialties guaranteed etc. are added;
– relative grounds for refusal of registration now contain more detailed descriptions;
– registration procedure will now closely resemble that of the EU trademarks. Parties will now be able to settle during the pposition procedure and the opponent to the registration will need to prove prior use of their trademark, should the applicant so require.

In addition, the new amendment ZIL-1E also introduces provisions that will facilitate the Slovenian Intellectual Property Office’s (SIPO) transition to electronic conduct of business.