•  What is a European Union/ Community Trademark?

A European Union/ Community Trademark is a sign for identifying and distinguishing goods or services valid across the European Community, registered with the OHIM in accordance with the conditions specified in the CTMR.

There are 25 member states of European Union. They are Austria , Belgium , Cyprus , Czech Republic , Denmark , Estonia , Finland , France , Germany , Greece , Hungary , Ireland , Italy , Latvia , Lithuania , Luxembourg , Malta , Poland , Portugal , Slovakia , Slovenia , Spain , Sweden , The Netherlands and United Kingdom .

2 ． Good Reasons for Using the Community Trade Mark

1 ） Unitary nature and protection of exclusive rights

2 ） Simplified formalities and management

3 ） Reduced costs

4 ） Right of priority

5 ） Community trade marks as prior rights in all the countries of the European Union

3 ． Which trade mark may be registered?

A Community trade mark must meet two conditions: a trade mark is a sign which can be represented in graphic form, and it must make it possible to distinguish goods and services from those of another company.

Signs which may be registered as a trade mark may therefore include:

?words, invented or belonging to a known language (in the latter case they must not be used in that language as generic terms for the goods and services to which the trade mark applies);

?names and first names;

?signatures;

?letters, numbers;

?acronyms, combinations of letters, numbers and signs, logos;

?slogans;

?designs, figures and pictographs;

?portraits of people;

?collections of words or graphic elements and complex signs associating verbal and graphic signs, e.g. labels;

?three-dimensional trade marks such as shapes of goods or their packaging;

?colours or combinations of colours;

? sound marks, in particular musical phrases.

4 ． Who may obtain a Community trademark?

Access to the Community trade mark is, as a rule, open to all types of applicants. All natural or legal persons may register a community trademark. 。

5 ． In what language must a trade mark application be presented?

The Office's languages are Spanish, German, English, French and Italian. An application for a Community trade mark may be filed in one of the official languages of the European Union. However, any post-registration proceedings must be in one of the five languages of the Office.

6 ． How to register

6.1. Date of filing

The dossier must be complete so that a date of filing can be assigned.

On receipt of the application, an examiner at the Office checks that it includes all the items necessary and that the fees have been paid. If necessary, the applicant is requested to rectify any irregularities. The date of filing is assigned at the end of this first stage.

Documents Requiried

.Letter of Instruction

.Name,address and Nationality(or country of incorporation) of the applicant(natural person or legal person)

.Sample of trademarks(Black & White) and the nature of business

.List of goods to be covered by trademark application and international class,if known

.Specify the colour if your mark is coloured.

6.2. Search reports

Search reports on existing earlier trade marks are drawn up by the Harmonization Office and by the offices of some Member States of the European Union once a date of filing has been accorded. The Harmonization Office draws up a search report relating only to earlier Community trade marks. Central industrial property offices of those Member States which have decided accordingly draw up simultaneously and on their own behalves, search reports relating to earlier national trade marks in their registers. Mandatory time limits are set for the completion of all these reports, which are forwarded to the applicant by the Harmonization Office.

6.3.Examination

The application may be refused by the Harmonization Office on 'absolute' grounds, on the basis of the characteristics of the trade mark in respect of which the application for registration has been made.

The Office's examiners check that the application relates to a sign which may be registered as a Community trade mark.

The Office must ascertain that the signs used are distinctive. They must not:

?be a generic term for the goods or services in question in one of the languages of the European Union;

?designate in one of the abovementioned languages the quality, quantity, value, geographic origin or other characteristics of the goods or services;

?have become a customary sign in ordinary language or in the bona fide and established practices of the trade, even in only one of the Member States of the European Union 。

These objections may be overcome if the use of the sign in question has given it a distinctive character or 'secondary meaning'

Certain special characteristics of the shape of a product in the case of three-dimensional trade marks, the deceptive nature of trade marks or the fact that they are contrary to public order or to accepted principles of morality may also constitute absolute grounds for refusal of registration.

As for all Harmonization Office's decisions, an appeal may be made against the refusal of registration.

If, despite the examination, the sign actually should not have been registered, any third party may subsequently request the Harmonization Office to revoke the Community trade mark in question.

6.4. Publication of the application

If the application is not rejected on absolute grounds and if the applicant does not withdraw his application after taking note of the search reports, it is published in the Community Trade Marks Bulletin by the Harmonization Office in all official languages of the European Union.

6.5. Time limit for opposition prior to registration

Within a period of three months following the publication of a Community trade mark application, third parties may give notice of opposition to registration of the trade mark.

All these grounds for refusal may be invoked in the opposition procedure before the Harmonization Office by proprietors of earlier rights.

Earlier rights may not be invoked if their proprietors are not in a position to prove, if requested by the applicant to do so, that they have been put to genuine use during the past five years. The existence of earlier trade mark rights is a significant risk for the successful outcome of any Community trade mark registration procedure. There are more than 3 million registered trade marks in the Member States of the European Union (including international trade marks in those Member States party to the Madrid Agreement). In addition, there are unregistered trade marks and other unregistered signs, prior identification of which is difficult.

The opposition procedure allows all means of communication to be used and requires the physical presence at the Office's headquarters of the parties or their representatives only in the case of oral proceedings. The Office's Opposition Division concludes the opposition procedure either by totally or partially refusing the application or by rejecting the opposition and registering the trade mark.

6.6. Registration

If no opposition is raised within a period of three months following publication, the trade mark is registered.

6.7 ． Fees, payment and time

Basic fee for the registration of an individual mark is HK$45,600, paid all at one time when the application begins.

The approximate time for obtaining the certificate, without Official objection or Opposition, is about 18-24 months.

7.What is the duration of the protection afforded by the Community trade mark?

Renewal of the registration extends the duration of the protection afforded by the Community trade mark indefinitely.