ADVERTISING FEATURE


Te Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market is making similar moves with Michel Barnier, the European commissioner for the internal market, having unveiled plans to provide a more streamlined online trademark application process to reduce both the complexity and the cost of registering trademarks.


I think we all get the point: in five to 10 years’ time, most trademark applications will be processed online.


“Of course not,” say some, “online services deprive legal services consumers of proper counsel which may uncover potential problems down the track”— but this argument appears to fall on the deaf ears of today’s web-minded consumer.


Other attorneys are sceptical of the profitability of


the cut-throat competitive pricing of


online operators, oſten one-tenth of the usual professional fees. Indeed, of Trademarkia.com’s turnover of $7.7 million in 2010, $5 million was official fees.


How could online operators possibly remain profitable with fees such as these? Quite possibly, it


seems: today’s online trademark attorneys leverage soſtware to reduce professional time


in preparing applications and lower costs to lure in the previously excluded, cost-sensitive trademark applicant.


For example, let’s examine a case study of a trademark attorney who uses online application


“OF ALL ONLINE APPLICANTS, LESS THAN 10 PERCENT REQUIRED TELEPHONE CONTACT FROM THE ATTORNEY TO CLARIFY ISSUES, AND, OF THESE, LESS THAN 0.5 PERCENT REQUIRED FACE-TO-FACE MEETINGS.”


processing soſtware to automate 1) the goods and services classification; 2) the availability searching; 3) the applicant details capture; and 4) the payment processing.


Of all online applicants, less than 10 percent required telephone contact from the attorney to clarify issues, and, of these, less than 0.5 percent required face-to-face meetings. For the remaining 90 percent, on account of the applications having been classified and searched by the soſtware, the trademark attorney was simply able to file the applications on the official online website, taking roughly six minutes per application, with 72 percent proceeding to acceptance without an adverse exam report.


How long do you currently spend in consultation, invoicing and seeking of instructions with each trademark applicant prior to filing?


Profitability


Furthermore, charging a 10th of professional fees caused an approximate tenfold increase in applications which, on account of the time savings, allowed the online attorney to maintain profitability, notwithstanding a consideration that the online attorney didn’t incur the same


74 World Intellectual Property Review Annual 2013


www.worldipreview.com


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156  |  Page 157  |  Page 158  |  Page 159  |  Page 160  |  Page 161  |  Page 162  |  Page 163  |  Page 164  |  Page 165  |  Page 166  |  Page 167  |  Page 168