Week 6: International IP Law (Part II)
I am officially past the halfway point for my time here at IBJ-Geneva. This week's work was 6-weeks in the making -- I began filing for a trademark for IBJ!
To file for protections through the Madrid System, I first needed to file for a national trademark in a country that abides by this process. After weighing the costs and benefits of different jurisdictions, I landed on Switzerland; it is far cheaper than the United States and, because it is a smaller country, is also far more efficient at processing applications. This, however, presented a new challenge: the entire application was in French.
With the help of my French-speaking colleague, Sarah, I waded through the application. The most challenging part was identifying the classifications in which IBJ wanted protection. This would be a stressful task even if the application was in English; the added challenge of translating the classes into French made the process all the more nerve-wracking. One of the most common reasons trademark applications are denied is because applicants identify the wrong classes for protection. But with Sarah's help, I was able to identify and submit the proper classes in French.
This submission process taught me a lot about teamwork, but it also made me vividly aware of my own shortcomings. Living in Geneva without speaking French has certainly been a challenge, but not that much of a challenge. Since everyone speaks English for the most part, I haven't had to learn much French besides merci and parlez vous anglais? When I opened the Swiss trademark application and found it was entirely in French, I was helpless. Without Sarah's help, I could not have confidently filed the application. This experience has made me determined to become proficient in another language. Even if I'm never fluent, I want to be able to operate confidently in another country's systems.
With the national application filed, the next step is filing the international trademark application. But that's for next week.