New Changes To European Trademark Prosecution

As of March 23, 2016, the "Community Trade Mark" (CTM) is going by a new name: the "European Union Trade Mark" (EUTM), reflecting the evolution of the European Community into the European Union. By force of Regulation No. 2015/2424, the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM), the body responsible for administering the European trademark regime, will now be called the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). EU member states will have three years to implement the new EU trademark directive into their national laws.

The changes to the EU trademark regime are not merely cosmetic. Substantive changes include the following:

• Marks are no longer required to be "capable of being represented graphically." Instead, marks must be capable of "being represented on the Register of European Union trade marks, . . . in a manner which enables the competent authorities and the public to determine the clear and precise subject matter of the protection