INTA

INTA is the abbreviation for International Trademark Association, which 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 merchants were of the opinion that there was a dire need of an organization that will help to protect and promote the rights of trademark owners, formulate useful legislations and provide help and encouragement to all the endeavors that would contribute to the advancement of trademark rights. Today, the INTA has around 5,700 trademark owners, academics and professionals from more than 190 countries making it one of the most powerful networks of powerful brands.

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 and 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 the services. Programs, members benefits, awards and competitions and comprises 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 the 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 and told its members to oppose ICANN’s proposed expression of interest (EOI) process, which it had drafted in December, 2009 to solicit new generic top-level domains (gTLD) which required entities to submit basic information about them and also the requested TLD. INTA cited that the decision of ICANN to accept pre-registrations was premature and also stressed that the pre-registration process was harmful as it will force the trademark owners to register their trademarks defensively to protect their trademarks. INTA had showed its willingness to support ICANN in an economic study aimed to study one of the most overreaching issues that was identified by ICANN. However, it demanded that the study should take place prior to the launch of any new gTLD program. In response to this, ICANN also accepted the INTA offer over helping ICANN in writing an economic report.