The New EU Trademark; What You Need to Know About Changes in Fees

The New EU Trademark; What You Need to Know About Changes in Fees

You may have heard about the new EU trade mark reforms which were enacted in December.  These introduce some very important practical changes on matters such as fee levels, payment dates, representations of trade marks and amendments to existing registrations for class headings.

1.     OHIM will change its name to the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO)

2.     Community Trademarks or CTMs will now be known as European Trademarks (EUTMs)

3.     Change in fee structure. Each class will now carry a separate fee (applies to filing and renewal)

4.     An applicaiton in one class will be 850 Euro, 2 classes 900 Euro. Follow this link for full changes: https://oami.europa.eu/ohimportal/en/eu-trade-mark-regulation-fees

A summary of fee changes:

 The current fees for filing an application in up to 3 classes are €900 and on renewal, €1350. This means that the official renewal fees for a registration in one class will be greatly reduced from €1350 to €850.  The official application fees for one class will fall from €900 to €850.  If you file in two classes, the application fees are the same under the new and old systems (€900) and the renewal fees will be reduced from €1350 to €900.  For three class marks, the application fees will increase from €900 to €1050 but the renewal fees will fall from €1350 to €1050.

Change in renewal fee due date

Renewal fees must be paid by the renewal date, rather than at the end of that month.

If the renewal period is running when the proposals come into effect, the draft OHIM / EUIPO Guidelines incorporating the changes state that the old payment date will apply, which would mean that those registrations could be renewed by paying the fee at the end of the month in which the payment date falls.  

When does all of this come into effect?

The changes come into effect on 23 March 2016, with a few exceptions including removal of graphical representation requirement and certification trade marks mentioned above

If you need to file an EU Trademark in multiple classes we advise you to do so asap as it will be cheaper now than when the changes come into force!

Please contact jane@trademarkroom.com for a free consultation

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