Insights | April 26, 2019

The new Finnish Trademarks Act ratified by the President of Finland

The new Finnish Trademarks Act has been finally ratified by the President of Finland on April 26, 2019, and it will come into force on May 1, 2019. The new Act implements EU Trademark Directive ((EU) 2015/2436) and Singapore Treaty (Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks 2006) and introduces several significant changes to the trademark opposition and invalidation proceedings as well as to the requirements for the specification of goods and services, representation requirements of a trademark, treatment of goods in transit, and more.

One of the most significant changes will be the requirement to amend the lists of goods and services of trademark registrations registered before 2014 containing Nice class headings. According to the new Act, these registrations will no longer cover all goods and services falling into a  particular class. It will be possible to amend the lists of goods and services of the old registrations in connection with their renewal (at the latest), so we recommend that the scope of protection of the old Finnish trademark registrations is carefully reviewed and corrective measures are taken in order to ensure that the protection is not inadvertently narrowed.

For more detailed analysis on the new Act, and its implications to trademark owners, please see our Roschier Reflections article of 18 October 2018.