Intellectual property protection is essential for both big and
small businesses. Trade marks are often the most important assets
of companies. A trade mark can be a word, a logo or every other
feature that can be presented graphically. Since 1996 the trade
mark system has been harmonized and simplified within the whole
European Union.
Community Trade Marks (CTM) cover all present 27 member states
of the European Union. However, only one single application must be
filed at the Office of Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM).
In consequence, the application can be filed in one of the 22
languages of the European Community. Additionally, a second
language has to be chosen which has to be different from the first
language and must be one of the five languages of the Office,
namely, Spanish, German, English, French or Italian. As trade marks
generally serve to distinguish the goods and services of one
competitor from those of other competitors the applicant has
