RAWALPINDI, Dec 18: The Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks is set to become effective in March 16, 2009 to open the way for the branded goods industry to register and manage trademark rights cost-effectively and efficiently.

The UN-backed global treaty that will ease the process of registering and licensing trademarks has now received the required number of ratifications to enter into force after Australia became the tenth country to ratify the agreement, which was adopted by member states of WIPO in March 2006. Pakistan has so far neither signed nor ratified the treaty.

By establishing common standards for procedural aspects of trademark registration and licensing, the treaty, which will enter into force on March 16, helps to create a level-playing field for all economic operators that invest in branded goods,” the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) announced.

The objective of the Singapore Treaty is to create a modern and dynamic international framework for the harmonisation of administrative trademark registration procedures. Building on the Trademark Law Treaty of 1994 (TLT 1994), the new treaty has a wider scope of application and addresses new developments in the field of communication technology.

According to WIPO’s director general Francis Gurry it is a particularly welcome development for companies, which want to generate cost savings, and maintain their market position amid the current economic slowdown.

The treaty standardises procedural aspects of trademark registration and licensing and enables owners of trademarks and national trademark authorities to take advantage of efficiencies in using modern communications technologies to process and manage evolving trademark rights.

WIPO works with member states to develop international laws and standards for trademarks –distinctive signs, used to differentiate between identical or similar goods and services offered by different producers or services providers – which are a type of industrial property, protected by intellectual property rights.