EU Streamlines and Harmonises Trademark Protection

摘要

Fashion brands and textile machinery builders will now find it easier, and cheaper, to protect their intellectual property in the European Union, as a new EU-wide trademark has entered into force. Until now, trademarks could be registered at national level, at the industrial property offices of the 28 EU countries, or at EU level as a Community Trademark (CTM), administered by the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM). All existing CTMs and CTM applications now automatically become EU trademarks and EU trademark applications, and OHIM has been renamed as the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO).