OHIM and EU offices clarify practice on B&W trade marks

The Common Communication applies to most national offices in Europe, and to OHIM, which will implement it in its Guidelines on June 2 this year. Italy, France and Finland did not participate in the project.

The Communication, published on April 15, is part of a convergence programme between IP offices, and comes after the issue was addressed in recent cases. It addresses three questions:

• Is a trade mark in B&W and/or greyscale from which priority is claimed identical to the same mark in colour?

• Is an earlier trade mark in B&W and/or greyscale identical to the same mark in colour when assessing relative grounds?

• Is the use of a colour version of a trade mark registered in B&W/greyscale (or vice-versa) acceptable for the purpose of establishing genuine use?

Further analysis will be published shortly.