Legal Resource Proposals

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1. What are INTA Fact Sheets?

INTA Fact Sheets are intended to help answer basic questions about trademarks and related topics. Fact Sheets cover a wide variety of topics, under the following headings: Introduction to Trademarks;, Selecting and Registering a Trademark, protecting a Trademark, Types of Protection, Maintaining a Registration, Assignments, Licenses and Valuations, Domain Names and the Internet; and Cross Border Topics.

Fact Sheets provide brief answers to basic questions for the non-trademark specialist in an easily accessible FAQ format. Members are permitted to provide copies of individual Fact Sheets to clients in response to their queries.

2. Who is the audience for INTA Fact Sheets?

Certain Fact Sheets are available for public use, while access to others is restricted to members. Public use Fact Sheets are geared toward non-lawyers, including business owners and in-house marketing teams, while member Fact Sheets are geared more toward junior trademark practitioners and non-trademark specialists seeking basic information about a particular area of trademark or related law. Public Fact Sheets should not use legal jargon. Member fact sheets are intended to give our members a brief overview of a topic from a legal perspective, so can include a little jargon if necessary.

3. What is the proper format for an INTA Fact Sheet?

INTA Fact Sheets typically consist of a series of questions and answers relating to a particular topic. Fact Sheets aim to provide basic information about trademarks and related topics. To that end, Fact Sheets should be presented in the form of clear and direct questions about a specific topic, followed by concise answers to those questions. The questions form the headings of the document, each followed by the answer, which consists of one or more short paragraphs. This guideline document mirrors the format of a fact sheet: Free Trade Zones, which can be found under the Cross Border Topics

4. How long should an INTA fact sheet be?

INTA Fact Sheets vary in length from approximately 350 to 1,500 words (i.e., from one to four pages), depending on the topic and complexity.

5. What kind of topics can be covered by INTA Fact Sheets, and can they be jurisdiction specific?

Fact Sheets cover a wide variety of topics and issues involving trademarks and related intellectual property issues that are applicable in most jurisdictions. Fact Sheets also cover Cross Border Topics. Fact Sheets are not intended to provide a summary of statutes or case law, but rather to provide an overview of the topic or issues covered.

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The INTA Publications Committee produces and shepherds several types of resources for use by INTA members. These include Fact Sheets, Industry Impressions, and Practitioners’ Checklists. These guidelines provide a framework for authors in drafting Practitioners’ Checklists.

1. General
Practitioners’ Checklists provide practical expertise on a single topic of interest without citations or reference to external sources. For example, the subjects of current Practitioners’ Checklists include: Trademark Audits; Use of Surveys and Survey Experts in Trademark Disputes; Trademark Clearance and Enforcement for Mobile Applications; Sports Mascot Creation and Clearance; Cease and Desist Letters; Trademark Due Diligence; and Tax and Trademark Planning Pointers for Trademark Practitioners, among others.

Practitioners’ Checklists may be written by a single author or by small groups of coauthors (who may be members of an INTA Committee or Subcommittee).

Before deciding on a topic and submitting your proposal, please review the existing Checklists to ensure that your topic has not been addressed already and to become familiar with the Practitioners’ Checklists format.

2. Format
Practitioners’ Checklists are helpful training and management tools that provide guidance on how to perform certain tasks. A Practitioners’ Checklist can outline a list of steps or actions to follow for performing the task. It can also outline a list of documents or requirements for completing the task.

The main body of the document should consist of a checklist that may be organized by subtopics if appropriate.

Each item on the Practitioners’ Checklist should be delineated with a bullet or checkbox. The bulleted items can include a brief written explanation next to the item for the corresponding step, requirement, document, or action. The explanation can provide guidance on how to complete the item, where to locate more information about the item, hyperlinks to document forms, or things to consider when performing the task.

Practitioners’ Checklists generally range from 5 to 15 pages. Shorter topics may be more appropriate for Fact Sheets, while longer discussions or those including citations or case law may be more suitable for an Industry Impressions resource. Please see separate guidelines for other kinds of resources.

3. Introduction
The Practitioners’ Checklist should be prefaced by an introductory paragraph or statement setting out the objectives, purpose, and scope of the document, including what issues it is intended to address and why that information may be useful to brand practitioners. In some cases, it may be appropriate to explain any limitations of the subject matter, whether the content is jurisdiction-specific, and/or any specific topics that may not be addressed.

4. Audience
Practitioners’ Checklists are mainly geared towards lawyers, including in-house and outside counsel. However, given that Practitioners’ Checklists provide practical expert advice on a single topic of interest, they may also be of interest to non-lawyers, such as non-attorney trademark professionals, marketing teams, business owners, and entrepreneurs.

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Purpose

1. The goal of Industry Overviews is to provide an up-to-date summary of issues that affect trademark strategy in a particular industry.
2. Industry Overviews are meant for trademark practitioners who are familiar with trademark law generally but may not be familiar with the trademark issues and regulations or other considerations that are peculiar to a particular industry.
3. Industry Overviews are not intended to be an exhaustive resource, but rather as a summary of industry specific pointers with links to relevant information. The goal is to help trademark practitioners spot issues that will merit further review.  An Industry Overview should be a maximum of two pages and brevity is encouraged. A suggested outline is below.
4. By their nature, Industry Overviews will tend to be jurisdiction specific. However, the Trademark Considerations (see below) will most likely be informative to practitioners in any jurisdiction looking to learn about the industry in general.

Regulatory Regime Overview

1. This section should include a brief summary of the regulatory regime that pertains to the industry and how it impacts trademarks, product names, labels, etc.
2. Include names of relevant regulatory bodies and provide links to any relevant guidance materials or updates, linking directly to the primary source (rather than any third-party summary).

Trademark Considerations

1. Process and timing: Are there regulatory regimes that impact the selection and adoption of a trademark or packaging? How does the process and timing work with trademark office prosecution timeline?
2. Clearance: Are there any special databases to be used in conducting the search? Are there any special considerations in determining likelihood of confusion with a prior mark?
3. Registration: Are there any special considerations for identifying goods and services? Showing use in commerce? Selecting acceptable specimens?
4. Use: Are there any special use considerations?
5. Enforcement: Are there any special considerations in determining likelihood of confusion?
6. Licensing: Are there any special considerations in negotiating license terms?
7. Other: Are there any other trademark considerations that are unique to this industry?
8. International considerations: Do any special considerations apply to the above considerations outside the subject jurisdiction?