Amendment to the Slovenian Industrial Property Act (ZIL-1E)
On 16 March 2020, the new amendment to the Slovenian Industrial Property Act (ZIL-1E) was published in the Official Gazzete. ZIL-1E will enter into force on Sunday, 29 March 2020.
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.
The Internet Archive is a non-profit organization that maintains the Open Library, a digital library index, and is dedicated to preserving knowledge. As many of the works in the Internet Archive are under copyright, the Archive uses a system of controlled digital lending based on digital rights management to prevent unauthorized downloading or copying of copyrighted books. In March 2020, due to the circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, the Internet Archive established the National Emergency Library, eliminating the waiting lists used in the Open Library and expanding access to books for all readers. In June 2020, the Emergency National Library faced a lawsuit from four book publishers and was ultimately closed.
The 43rd session of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (hereinafter SCCR) made substantial progress on the issues advocated by the A2K Coalition (Access to Knowledge Coalition), which IPI is a member of. This year’s session was the most productive on the issues of exceptions and limitations. James Love (Knowledge Ecology International), a long-time observer at WIPO, described the outcome and the impact of the public interest community as the strongest since the conclusion of the Marrakech Treaty, which brought global copyright exceptions for the benefit of the blind and visually impaired.
Today, March 17, 2023, a symposium on law in the information society is taking place in the golden lecture hall of the Faculty of Law in Ljubljana. Dr. Maja Bogataj Jančič will present copyright aspects of artificial intelligence at the symposium.
The third day of the 43rd session of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights is intended for discussion on the topic of exceptions and limitations to copyright, especially in connection with the right to research.