The draft law aims to establish a modern and dynamic international framework for the harmonization of administrative procedures for trademark registration, with a particular focus on the use of communication technologies.
📌 Key facts about the Singapore Treaty:
- The Singapore Treaty was concluded in 2006 and entered into force in 2009;
- The Treaty is open to WIPO member states and certain intergovernmental organizations;
- It consists of 32 articles and 10 regulations;
- It applies to trademarks for goods and/or services.
🔑 What makes this treaty a “game changer”?
- A unified international structure for applications;
- Electronic communication and digitalization;
- Flexibility for non-traditional trademarks (it does not limit the forms of representation of a mark, e.g., sounds, if permitted by national legislation);
- Time limits and “safety net” mechanisms for applicants (possibility for corrections, extensions of deadlines, and restoration of rights);
- Simplification of recordal changes (assignment, name, address) through standardized and less bureaucratic procedures.
📌 What is expected in practice in Albania?
- Reduction of formal refusals;
- Increase in applications from foreign entities;
- Genuine digitalization of procedures before the General Directorate of Industrial Property (GDIP);
- Greater alignment of practices with the EU and WIPO.
⚠️ What does NOT change:
- The criteria for trademark registration (distinctiveness, etc.);
- Examination practices (these remain governed by national law).
