European Union trade mark

The EU trade mark is a unitary title conferring on its owner identical protection throughout all Member States of the European Union, through a single registration before the EUIPO, the European Union Intellectual Property Office in Alicante. It is governed by the EU Trade Mark Regulation. Its unitary character means it can only be registered, transferred, cancelled or revoked for the Union as a whole.

Registration

The application is filed directly with the EUIPO, in a single language of proceedings, for goods and services chosen from the Nice Classification. The office examines absolute grounds for refusal, such as lack of distinctive character, but not earlier rights. The application is published and owners of earlier rights have three months to file an opposition. The mark is then registered for ten years, renewable indefinitely. A ground for refusal valid in a single Member State is enough to defeat the application as a whole, subject to conversion into national applications.

Use and enforcement

The owner must put the mark to genuine use in the Union within five years of registration, failing which it becomes liable to revocation. Use in a substantial part of the Union may suffice. Infringement actions and counterclaims for invalidity or revocation fall within the jurisdiction of the EU trade mark courts designated by each Member State. In France, that is the Paris judicial court, whose injunctions may take effect throughout the Union. Direct invalidity actions are brought before the EUIPO.

Key points

In practice, the EU trade mark is the instrument of choice for companies active on several European markets. It combines with national marks, which subsist, and with the international trade mark, since the Union can be designated through the Madrid route. The firm acts in opposition and invalidity proceedings before the EUIPO and in trade mark infringement actions before the Paris judicial court, as part of its intellectual property practice.