1. rights in a trademark will no longer arise from use, but rather from registration, although trademark owners who have used unregistered marks prior to April 1, 1997 may apply for registration of such marks and claim priority based on the date of first use, provided they do so before:

April 1, 1999;

2. three-dimensional marks are now registrable, as are collective marks;

3. registrations will now be granted for a period of 10 years, in contrast to the previous 20-year term, and will be renewable for 10-year periods;

4. the period of non-use which will render a registration subject to cancellation has been increased from 3 years to 5 years and use of the mark "in the territory of the European Economic Area or in Switzerland" will be considered valid use;

5. a trademark registrant may not prohibit the use of the registered mark with respect to goods that have been placed on the market by the registrant or with his consent within the member states of the European Economic Area; this exhaustion of rights also applies to goods which have been placed by the registrant, or with his consent, on the market outside of the European Economic Area, unless such use by a third party would cause deception to domestic consumers;

6. the customs authorities may notify trademark owners of suspected infringing goods destined for import or export and may seize such goods upon request; and

7. owners of well-known trademarks are granted protection against the use by third parties of similar marks in respect of dissimilar goods.