The European Union Trademark Reform has been finally adopted. Inter alia, the reform will:
- Reduce renewal fees for EU trademarks by up to 37 percent;
- Allow trademark owners to seize counterfeit goods transiting through the EU;
- Harmonize certain aspects of substantive and procedural law. This includes new office-based opposition and cancellation actions and protection of trademarks with a reputation in all EU Member States;
- Harmonize rules of classification of goods and services and allow International Registrations designating the EU to be processed much more quickly;
- Open the door to the registration of more types of nontraditional trademarks (such as sounds, smells and tastes) by removing the requirement that a trademark be capable of graphic representation;
- Provide new governance rules for the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM), to be renamed the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO); and
- Create a new framework for cooperation between the EUIPO and national trademark offices in Member States for greater convergence of practices and standards.
For details about the adoption, click here. For additional information on main aspects of the reform, see here.
