Learn How INTA’s Cancellations Searchable Guide Is Making Life Easy for Brand Professionals

INTA’s Searchable Guides are developed by 30+ principal editors and 500+ contributors, who volunteer their time and expertise to provide these resources to the INTA community. Available exclusively to INTA members, these tools are designed to inform brand strategies for multinational projects. Multijurisdiction surveys, including Trademark Cancellations: International Practice and Procedures (Cancellations), provide practice-oriented content on a wide variety of trademark-related topics. Here, Patricia McGovern, Chairperson at DFMG Solicitors based in Ireland, shares insight into what it means to volunteer as a principal editor for INTA and how this guide is helping brand professionals in their daily work.

How did you get involved with INTA, and what committees have you served on?
I became involved in INTA in 1993, and I joined a committee to get to know people. I was assigned to the committee dealing with the INTA Bulletin and that started my involvement with publications and INTA. I became subsumed into the Publications Board Committee, headed by the late Mary McGrane. As she always told us, to quote the Eagles’ song “Hotel California,” “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.” Indeed, I have never left. I have checked out from time to time. I was involved in the Anticounterfeiting Committee, the Internet Committee, and the Design Committee, and I am currently involved in the Data Protection Committee, where I am Chair of the Enforcement Subcommittee; however, my role as principal editor of Cancellations follows me!

What do you like best about being a principal editor of Cancellations?
The Cancellations Searchable Guide was one of the first, if not the first, of the INTA publications to be entirely electronic from day one, which was a wonderful opportunity and challenge. It seems strange now to say that this was considered very innovative at the time of its inception, but it was. INTA was addressing a need that it saw its members had for a more efficient form of information gathering, so it was great to be part of that. Since then, all of the editors and the INTA legal publications staff, in particular, Liz Hanellin, have worked together closely, and we have seen some great professionals from all around the world come on as editors. One always feels a great sense of achievement when there is a new update or some new countries come on board. I love my day job as an intellectual property lawyer, but it is nice occasionally to do something slightly different in life and the editor role gives me that chance from time to time.

How can the guide help members in their daily professional lives?
As professionals, whether in private practice or in-house, we are all under increasing pressures to produce timely and cost-effective work product. While publications are never a substitute for local advice, something like Cancellations can give you an excellent overview for any cross-border project that you may be working on that may involve cancellations. It can give you an immediate insight into the issues you may need to address in any such project and assist you with strategy. Because it is an entirely searchable database rather than a traditional “book,” you can search and access practical information on trademark cancellation practice and procedure in numerous jurisdictions worldwide. Topics covered include: availability of cancellation proceedings; applicable grounds; venue; representation; time frames; estimated costs; and rights of appeal. You are given a number of options for the types of reports that you want to generate, namely, a single jurisdiction report, a single topic report, and a condensed report-giving you basic information on up to 10 jurisdictions. Alternatively you can create your own customized report, selecting up to 10 jurisdictions and up to 15 topics. These options mean that you can tailor the information that you want to generate to suit your specific requirements.