Information leaflet for Trademark Departments
Information leaflet for Trademark Departments
28 February 2005
| Publication

Overview
The selection of new INNs necessitates the use of appropriate safeguards to avoid a conflict with established trademarks. When selecting new INNs, the INN Expert Group convened by WHO for this purpose generally rejects any proposal that could result in a conflict with known TMs. Selected names are published in a WHO periodical (“WHO Drug Information”) as proposed INNs before they are actually adopted as recommended INNs.
Interested parties are given a period of 4 months in which to raise an objection to a proposed INN. An objection may be based, for example, on similarity between the proposed INN and a trademark in which the interested party has proprietary rights.
WHO Team
INN and Classification of Medical Products (INN)
Editors
International Nonproprietary Name (INN) Programme
Number of pages
2
Reference numbers
WHO Reference Number: INN Leaflet TM
Copyright
© World Health Organization 2005