‘Macedonia’ corporate names require protection

There are some 4,000 enterprises that have the term “Macedonia” in their name or their products which will now have to protect it in international markets to avoid running into problems with the agreement to settle the name dispute with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, according to the head of the Federation of Industries of Northern Greece (SBBE), Athanasios Savvakis.

He went on to ask those enterprises to act swiftly in this direction and utilize the free assistance provided by SBBE. He said this ought to be done through the EUIPO office in Alicante, Spain for activities within the European Union, and through the WIPO office in Geneva for other international activities. In the former case this costs 2,000 euros per name and in the latter 8,000 euros per name.

Savvakis observed that Greek enterprises have shown considerable negligence on the issue and revealed that the Geneva office has received no Greek applications for Greek name protection, while two applications have already arrived from FYROM companies. Just 24 Greek companies have registered the name ”Macedonia” at the Alicante office.