European Community Trade Marks are granted and regulated by the Office For Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) Alexander Ramage Associates is recognised as a firm of Professional Representatives before OHIM. All of our Attorneys are recognised as Professional Representatives before OHIM, and therefore qualified to act as European Trade Mark Attorneys.
Application Costs
The cost of our preparing and filing an application to register a Community trade mark covering goods or services falling in up to three Classes amounts to £300.00 for our services, plus official fees of 900.00 Euro. If the goods or services to be protected fall in more than three Classes then additional Class fees must be paid. Classification can be quite complex and we will be happy to discuss your requirements and advise you on your specific needs.
A Community trade mark or CTM provides protection by means of a single registration covering the whole of the European Union.
This can be enforced in any one of the member states.
What happens next?
When the filing formalities have been concluded, the application will be examined by the Office's Trade Marks Examiners. Registration must be refused if the trade mark is thought to be a simple descriptive or laudatory term. When all of these examinations are complete, argument can be filed against any formal objection.
A limited search against potentially conflicting prior rights will also be conducted against trade mark rights existing on the Community Trade Mark Register or on the Register of certain member states. Although the applicant will be notified of the outcome of these searches, registration of the trade mark will not be refused on this basis unless the proprietor of a relevant earlier trade mark right brings successful opposition proceedings.
However, a decision might be made now whether to seek to avoid the possible expense of future opposition proceedings by restricting the scope of the application or, indeed, by withdrawing it completely.
Further Costs, Acceptance and Grant
If no objection is taken it will cost £230.00 to take the application to the point of acceptance and registration when further fees become due, as explained below.
If objection is taken it is not possible to say with certainty what costs will be incurred at this stage. These depend upon what objections are taken and how long it takes either to argue against them with the Examiners or to decide upon an appropriate limitation to seek to avoid conflict with prior trade mark rights located in the searches.
If objections are taken, a budget of around £500.00 will often take the application to the point of acceptance to proceed to the next stage, or to the point it becomes clear acceptance will not be secured at all or will be secured only on expenditure of significant sums.
Once any formal objections are overcome, the application is published for opposition purposes. If no opposition is filed, or is successfully contested, the application proceeds to formal registration upon payment of registration fees. This costs £250.00 for our services and 850.00 Euro for official fees for an application covering up to three Classes.
When the Community trade mark has been registered, it will be effective in all countries of the European Union to be enforced against conflicting trade marks either by means of infringement action brought through the National Courts or by means of opposition brought through the Office.
If the Mark is refused
If it appears that a trade mark cannot be secured as a Community trade mark because of some formal objection, it is possible then to consider whether to seek to convert the application into a National application or series of National applications covering one or more individual states of the European Union.
Although the cost of securing a Community trade mark may appear significant, it compares very favourably with the cost of seeking protection in each individual member state of the European Union.
Also if an application to register a Community trade mark runs into trouble, there is the option to convert the CTM (on payment of additional fees), and seek protection in any or all individual states of the European Union if this looks like a preferable alternative
This page is for general guidance only. Detailed advice must be sought on specific issues and problems.
