A number of changes to the European Union’s trademark regulation will take effect later this month.
The Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market is to be rechristened the European Union Intellectual Property Office and the Community trade mark – which is used widely across the 28-nation bloc – will be renamed the European Union trade mark.
The changes were approved last December and are part of a package of reforms to the EU’s trade mark laws, including the replacement of the existing EU Trade Mark Directive.
The Community trade mark was created in 1993 and was the first unitary intellectual property right which applied across the whole of the EU.
Today, more than 100,000 of these trademarks are registered every year, helping to protect the rights of individuals and businesses across every one of the member states.
While EU officials have said the current set-up has been very successful the changes are being pushed through to help streamline proceedings and increase legal certainty.
There is also an acknowledgement that the system needs to adapt to the needs of the internet age, which has presented a number of fresh challenges to intellectual property law.
The EU has also confirmed that there will be changes to the fees, including an overall reduction in the amounts payable to the Office – which is particularly significant in the case of trade mark renewals.