Greece

Constantinos Kilimiris of Patrinos & Kilimiris explains how a recent amendment in the provisions of the Greek patent law resolves a long-standing issue which prevented amending applications

Evangelia Sioumala of Patrinos & Kilimiris looks at a recent judgment from the Athens Administrative Court of First Instance that favours the verbal elements of a trademark

One of the most radical changes introduced by the new Greek Trademark Law, effective since March 20 2020, is that the decisions of the Trademarks Administrative Commission handed down in cancellation action proceedings, either on grounds of invalidity or non-use, can be appealed before the specialised IP Single Bench Court of First Instance in Athens. Under the previous law, it was the Administrative Court of First Instance in Athens that ruled on appeal in these cases.

In a recent decision, the Athens Full Member Court of First Instance (IP Division) ruled that the successor-in-title of a patent is not entitled to a claim for damages regarding the time period between the patent’s transfer agreement and the corresponding recording thereof in the patent register. In essence, the court dismissed the successors-in-title’s claim for damages for the abovementioned time frame due to lack of legal standing, making it clear that damages can only be sought for the time after a patent transfer has been recorded .

During the COVID-19 pandemic, IP practitioners in Greece welcomed the new law on trademarks, under which Directive (EU) 2015/2436 was transposed into national law. There was no reason for any caution in this respect, since the implementation had been awaited since January 12 2019, which was the deadline for Greece to transpose the directive.

The newly-born Greek law on trademarks implementing Directive (EU) 2015/2436 has an attention-worthy provision, relating to the renewal of trademarks within their grace period. More specifically, the new Greek law on trademarks provides that the payment of the renewal fee can be made within the last six months of the protection’s term. It can also be made within an additional term of six months following the expiry of the formal protection’s term, subject to the payment of the renewal fee increased by 50% and without negating third parties’ rights acquired in the meantime.