As of 1 October 2007, the UK Intellectual Property Office (UK-IPO) will no longer reject trade mark applications on the basis of likelihood of confusion with an earlier mark. Instead, the UK-IPO will notify the applicant or their representative of earlier, possibly conflicting trade marks, including UK national trade marks, Community trade marks, and International trade marks designating the UK or the Community trade mark system. If the applicant chooses to proceed to the stage of publication of the trade mark application, the proprietors of the earlier UK trade marks or International trade marks designating the UK will be notified. For earlier Community trade marks or International trade marks designating the Community trade mark system, the proprietors will only be notified if they have opted-in to receive such notifications. It is then up to the proprietor to choose whether or not to try to prevent the registration of the new trade mark application. Proprietors can choose to opt in from 1 October 2007. Any request for opting in received and processed by the UK-IPO by 20 October 2007 will be eligible for receipt of notifications from the commencement of the new system. The first publications under this new system will be on 26 October 2007. Please feel free to contact trademark@rapisardi.com regarding any questions.