The Quest for a Superior Registration System for Registered Trade Marks in the United Kingdom and the European Union: An Analysis of the Current Registration System in the United Kingdom, the Community Trade Mark (CTM) Registration System and Coming Changes

摘要

The agreed fundamental change in the Trade Mark Registry in the United Kingdom will be supported here, because the official search for conflicting earlier marks solely for information purposes is an incontestable advancement in this country. Notwithstanding, the ongoing change in the system still offers a great chance to accelerate the progress in the United Kingdom and to associate itself with the forthcoming European CTM solution.rnTo sum up, this article advocates the adoption of an opt-in solution in the United Kingdom, meaning that the UK Patents Office would conduct an official search only if the trade mark applicant makes a request for it at the time of filing the application and pays a separate search fee, which he is able to avoid when he decides to engage a professional commercial watching service only or decides to take the risk to conduct no search at all. This approach would notably reflect inherited British traditions and attitudes regarding the Trade Mark registry and would be at the same time a bolder move to the entirely abrogation of official searches like in France, Germany or Italy, which should be the broader aim for the future.