Get ready for trade mark changes in Europe

Managing IP is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 1-2 Paris Gardens, London, SE1 8ND

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2025

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Get ready for trade mark changes in Europe

Far-reaching changes to the Community trade mark and national trade mark systems will come into effect early next year, after they were approved in a vote in the European Parliament

Yesterday's vote was the final legislative hurdle in the EU trade mark reform package, which has been discussed over many years. The final texts are expected to be published soon, and will come into effect after 90 days, which will probably be in early April.

The package includes changes to the EU Trade Marks Directive, which EU member states will have three years to implement. One of the significant reforms is that national offices will have to offer administrative cancellation proceedings: those that do not already provide these will have up to seven years to introduce them.

The package also includes a revised Trade Mark Regulation, which is the text that governs the CTM. Under the changes, the CTM will be renamed the EU trade mark and OHIM will become the EUIPO.

The changes will see a number of fees reduced, and also enable trade mark owners to seize counterfeit goods in transit through the EU. In addition, they attempt to harmonise practices between national offices in a number of areas.

For more details, see the information published by: INTA, ECTA and MARQUES.

For background, read: EU trade mark reform - the six key changes, published earlier this year.

Managing IP will publish a detailed analysis of the impact of the changes early in 2016.





more from across site and SHARED ros bottom lb

More from across our site

IP leaders at Brandsmiths and Bird & Bird, who were on opposing sides at the UK Supreme Court in Iconix v Dream Pairs, unpick the landmark case and its ramifications
Magdalena Bonde discusses Abion’s AI experiments and reveals why an entrepreneurial mindset and a willingness to learn about a business are essential skills
Partner Ginevra Righini explains how she secured victory for the Comité Champagne in its fight against an EUTM application for ‘Nero Champagne’
Volkan Hamamcıoğlu joins us for our ‘Five minutes with’ series to discuss meditation, tackling deadlines, and taking inspiration from Hamlet
A $110 million US verdict against Apple and an appellate order staying a $39 million trademark infringement finding against Amazon were also among the top talking points
Attorneys are watching how AI affects trademark registrations and whether a SCOTUS ruling from last year will have broader free speech implications
Patent lawyers explain why they will be keeping an eye on the implications of a pharma case and on changes at the USPTO in the second half of 2025
The insensitive reaction to a UK politician crying on TV proves we have a long way to go before we can say we are tackling workplace wellbeing
Adrian Percer says he was impressed by the firm’s work on billion-dollar cases as well as its culture
In our latest interview with women IP leaders, Catherine Bonner at Murgitroyd discusses technology, training, and teaching
Gift this article