The amended regulation, Regulation (EU) No 2015/2424 of the European Parliament and the Council amending the Community trade mark regulation has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union. The Amending Regulation will enter into force on 23rd March 2016.
The familiar IP Office in the Community, OHIM, the EU’s largest decentralised agency, will be called the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) instead of the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) from the abovementioned date. As well as managing the Community trade mark and the registered Community design (RCD), it works in collaboration with the EU national and regional IP offices to build a stronger IP system across the EU for the benefit of users.
The existing Community trade marks (CTMs) will be called the European Union trade marks (the EU trade marks) and all the existing CTM applications will automatically become European Union trade mark applications, respectively.
The Amending Regulation was published on 24 th December 2015 and is part of the EU trade mark reform legislative package that also includes the replacement of the existing EU Trade Mark Directive (Directive 2008/95/EC of the European Parliament and the Council).
Several measures will be taken to make the whole procedure more smoothly and avoid unnecessary delays. Such as (26) of Article 118, “It is appropriate to streamline the regime of EU and national trade mark searches by avoiding unnecessary delays in registering an EU trade mark and to render it more flexible in terms of user needs and preferences by also making the search for EU trade marks optional. The optional EU and national trade mark searches should be complemented by the making available of all-encompassing, fast and powerful search engines for the use of the public free of charge within the context of cooperation between the Office and the central industrial property offices of the Member States, including the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property." Search was placed after the filing of trade mark and set as part of the standard prosecution process, conducted by the OHIM. On publication of the EU trade mark Application, notification will be sent to the prior rights holders in order that they can file an Opposition if they are concerned. Although it is not an invite to oppose, it is still kind of delay. Therefore, it has been make optional with making it faster and more user-friendly. Furthermore, the ‘Fast Track' system recently adopted by the CTM Office and assuming that no examination objection is met, this can result in the Application moving forward to Publication within a day or two of the official search results being issued. This procedure always takes one month or more in the past.
The amending Regulation also revises the fees payable to the Office, including an overall reduction in their amounts, particularly in the case of trade mark renewal fees. On 23rd March 2016, the Office’s online application forms and fee calculator will be automatically updated to reflect the new system. The official filing fee used to cover 3 classes, now the deducted official filing fee covers only the first class. The filing fee of the second class is dramatically low, only EUR50.00. It could be a good news to the applicants for trade mark registrations with only one or two classes.
Enclosed is the amended regulation, Regulation (EU) No 2015/2424 of the European Parliament and the Council for detailed perusal.
In case you require more information or require advice on trademark in the European Union and its member countries, please do not hesitate to contact us via email: enquiries@bycpa.com.
February 2016 Kaizen Intellectual Property Agent Limited | 
