International Trademark Association

INTA, or the International Trademark Association, is a not-for-profit membership association established with the sole motive of providing the necessary support and advancement of trademarks and intellectual property with a view of conducting fair and effective commerce. It is headquartered in New York City and has offices in Brussels and Shanghai and representatives in Geneva, Mumbai and Washington D.C.

History

The INTA was established in the year 1878 by 17 manufacturers and merchants. These manufacturers and merchants were of the opinion that there was a dire need for an organization to help protect and promote the rights of trademark owners, formulate useful legislations, and provide help and encouragement to all endeavors contributing to the advancement of trademark rights. Today, the INTA consists of around 5,700 trademark owners, consisting of academics and professionals from more than 190 countries.

Member Organizations

The INTA has more than 5700 member organizations based in more than 190 countries. These member organizations mostly comprise of the following:

• Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
• Service firms
• Major national and multinational corporations
• Academic institutions, students and professors
• Trademark consultants
• Intellectual property and general practice law firms

Membership and Committees

The committee members of INTA work on education, information, policy development, advocacy and other services. The term of these committees lasts for two years. The major committees of INTA include:

The Education and Services Group (ESG): This committee of INTA looks after services, including programs, member benefits, awards, and competitions, and is comprised of the following sub-committees, which carry out different functions:

• Academic committee
• Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee (ADR)
• Government Officials Education & Training Committee
• In-House Practitioners Committee
• Law Firm Committee
• Leadership Development Committee
• Programs Committee
• Saul Lefkowitz Moot Court Competition Committee
• Trademark Administrators Committee
• Young Practitioners Committee

Policy Development and Advocacy (PDA): This committee of the INTA provides all the necessary input and guidance on INTA policies and advocacy and consists of the following sub-committees:

• Anticounterfeiting Committee (ACC)
• Emerging Issues Committee (EIC)
• Enforcement Committee (EC)
• Famous and Well-Known Marks Committee (FWKMC)
• Harmonization of Trademark Law and Practice Committee
• International Amicus Committee
• Internet Committee
• Legislation and Regulation Committee (LRC)
• Nontraditional Marks Committee
• Parallel Imports Committee (PIC)
• Related Rights Committee
• Trademark Office Practices Committee (TOPC)

The Publishing (PUBS) Group: This committee conducts INTA's global trademark research and is also assigned with task of producing print titles, periodicals and products. It consists of the following:

• INTA Bulletin Committee
• Online Reference Committee
• Publications Committee
• The Trademark Reporter® Committee

INTA and ICANN

The INTA was critical of ICANN, telling its members to oppose ICANN’s proposed expression of interest (EOI) process, which it drafted in December, 2009 to solicit entities to submit basic information about themselves and their requests for new gTLDs. INTA cited that the decision of ICANN to accept pre-registrations was premature and also stressed that the pre-registration process was harmful to trademark holders, as it would force them to register their trademarks defensively in order to protect them.

However not all INTA members were supporting the association’s decision. For instance, Minds + Machines, an INTA member, supports the EOI procedures. The Minds + Machines CEO Antony Van Couvering, in his post on the EOI comments area pointed out to ICANN staffers that INTA told its members to flood the EOI comment area with anti-EOI messages which the association thought would be effective in raising their voice against the process. Antony Van Couvering explained why INTA was opposing the EOI procedures in his post. ICANN had committed to resolve the overreaching issues related to the unlimited new gTLD program including Trademark protection, root zone scaling, malicious conduct and economic demand and impact before introducing the new gTLDs. INTA believed that these overreaching issues remained unresolved and that ICANN had not done necessary work that ensures that the potential benefits outweigh the risks, harms and the costs to the domain name system and to the public.

In a letter from Heather Steinmeyer, President, International Trademark Association (INTA) dated September 8, 2010 and from Alen C. Drewson, Executive Director of INTA dated October 12, 2010; INTA showed its willingness to assist ICANN in the identification of trademark protection and analysis of economic impact which it considered two of the overreaching issues that must be resolved before any new gTLDs are introduced.To this Peter Dengate Thrush, Chairman of the Board of Director of ICANN replied on October 27, 2010 accepting the offer and allowed INTAs participation in the economic analysis.

International Trademark Association