UK: Enlargement of the European Union and the Community Trade Mark

The European Union will expand from fifteen states to twenty five states on 1st May 2004. The expansion of the EU will have a considerable impact on the Community Trade Mark system. This update is an attempt to give you brief overview of the major changes that will affect CTM system as a result of expansion of the EU.

All CTM registrations and applications filed before or claiming priority before 1st May 2004 will automatically be extended to the acceding states as from the date of accession and there will no increase in official filing or registration fees as a result of expansion.

The proprietors of prior registrations or other rights in acceding states will be able to file oppositions based on those rights against any CTM application filed in or claiming a priority date in the six month period prior to accession. No such right will exist for CTM applications filed prior to 1st November 2003.

It will not be possible to cancel existing CTM Registrations/ Applications extended to acceding states on the basis of grounds of objection that exist only in a acceding state, apart from in the case of the existence of a geographical indication in an acceding state, applied before accession, which can be used to cancel a CTM registration with a filing date earlier than 1st May 2004.

Existing traders in acceding states shall not be prejudiced by the extension of Community Trade Mark Registrations/ Applications. Accordingly, traders using descriptive terms within acceding states shall not be prevented from using such terms on the basis of an extended Community Trade Mark Registration.

Also the proprietors of prior Registrations or other rights in acceding states will be able to prevent the use of an extended Community Trade Mark in an acceding state, if such use conflicts with an existing right providing that right/registration was established and filed in good faith, although the proprietor of the earlier right will not be able to cancel the said extended Registration as detailed above.

Applications filed after the 1st May 2004 will be governed by the Community Trade Mark Regulation and thus grounds of objection, both relative and absolute, could arise from any of the 25 member states that will be covered by the CTM Regulation at that time. It was initially expected that the existing advisory search report system will be abandoned as of the 1st May 2004 given the costs of conducting searches in possibly all ten acceding states together with national searches already conducted by the Office at present. However, OHIM have indicated that they may introduce a voluntary search system. Discussions are ongoing regarding this matter.