COMMUNITY TRADE MARK
1-
INTRODUCTION. |
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The Community Trade Mark enables the protection of a mark to
be, simultaneously, obtained for the 27 countries of the European
Union, by means of a single application, procedure, grant and
maintenance before the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal
Market (OHIM).
2- DESIGNATED
COUNTRIES.
The current 27 Member States of the European Union are the following:
AUSTRIA
BELGIUM*
BULGARIA
CYPRUS
CZECH REPUBLIC
DENMARK
ESTONIA
FINLAND
FRANCE |
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GREECE
GERMANY
HUNGARY
ITALY
IRELAND
LATVIA
LITHUANIA
LUXEMBOURG*
MALTA
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NETHERLANDS*
POLAND
PORTUGAL
ROMANIA
SLOVAKIA
SLOVENIA
SPAIN
SWEDEN
UNITED KINGDOM |
* These three countries have a joint Trade Mark law under Benelux.
3- ADVANTAGES OF THE COMMUNITY TRADE MARK.
Amongst others, the Communinty Trade Mark has the following
advanteges:
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1. |
The Community Trade Mark has its origin in a single application,
which implies a lower cost regarding the application itself,
as well as the processing, management, maintenance and renewal
of the registration. |
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2. |
Proceedings before OHIM are carried out in only one of the five
official languages of the Office, which are Spanish, English,
French, German and Italian. |
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3. |
Lower requirements in respect of the USE OF THE TRADE MARK.
It seems that, it will not be absolutely required for the mark
to have been put to genuine use in each Member State in order
to avoid in cancellation for lack of use. Under the national
trade mark system, if a mark has not been put to genuine use
in one of the Member States for five consecutive years, or if
its use has been discontinued for five consecutive years, a
third party may request the cancellation of the trade mark for
that country on the grounds of its lack of use. |
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4. |
Possibility of claiming that seniority of nationally registered
trade marks that are identical to the one claimed in the Community
Trade Mark in order to consolidate in the Community Trade Mark
all earlier rights purporting to the same mark. |
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5. |
In cases of Community Trade Mark infringement, it is possible
to bring infringement proceedings before a single Community
Trade Mark Court which will decide upon its jurisdiction and
whose decision will have effect in all Member States of the
European Union. |
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4- PROCEDURE
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Filing of Community Trade Mark application |
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Examination with respect to formal requirements. |
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Substantive Examination (absolute grounds). |
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Search report on prior trade marks |
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Publication |
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Oppositions and/or objections by third
parties |
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Grant. Rejection |
5- TERM
OF PROTECTION.
The term of protection for a Community Trade Mark is 10 years,
from the date of filing the application, and renewable for
identical periods, indefinitely.
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