A new regulation of European trademark law recently came into force. This meant that all existing Community trademarks automatically became Union trademarks. The Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market, which is responsible for trademarks, has been renamed the European Union Intellectual Property Office.

Due to the change in the law, it will be necessary in the future to list the goods and services more specifically and in more detail when registering trademarks. Simply stating the class headings of the Nice Classification is often no longer sufficient. For owners of existing EU trademarks (formerly: Community trademarks), this may result in the need to check the list of goods and services of the existing trademarks and, if necessary, to prevent a restriction of the scope of protection by submitting a written declaration. Due to a transitional regulation, there is time for this until September 24, 2016 at the latest.

We generally recommend that brand owners review their existing registered brands from time to time to see whether the scope of protection of the brands still sufficiently covers their current business activities.

Regulation (EU) 2015/2424 (“Union Trademark Regulation”) came into force on March 23, 2016. As a result, all existing community trademarks automatically became Union trademarks (abbreviated: EUTM). The Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) has been renamed the European Union Intellectual Property Office (abbreviated: EUIPO).
You can find out more about this in our Newsletter.

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