Registering a trademark in Europe

 Citizens of the EU travel, live, move and speak freely within these borders. Therefore, it follows that registering a trademark in Europe would be a community ideal rather than a country specific requirement. As such you can register a Community Trade Mark (CTM) rather than a National Trade Mark. 

Advantages of registering a CTM

There many advantages of registering a CTM below are some examples of this:

1. CTM registration covers 27 member states (including UK).
2. The costs are considerably less as one is not obligated to register in each country separately.
3. The trademark is protected throughout the whole European Union.
4. This system is better suited to protecting global businesses and in particular internet based business models. 
5. Less chance of duplication and symbols that are too similar, resulting in fewer disputes.
6. Diminishes language barriers as all correspondence for one file is in one uniform language.
7. Use of the trademark is automatically inclusive when and if new member states join the union. Therefore, protection of the trademark is expanded without any further work on the part of the owner. 
8.  CTM is issued for ten years and is renewable thereafter in ten year increments. To avoid revocation of the CTM, it must be used within the first five years. 

How to file a CTM

You can file an application directly at the OHIM or at any of the twenty-seven member national patent and trade mark offices. The form may be completed in any of the twenty-two member languages but a second language must also be chosen from Spanish, German, English, French or Italian. 

Application must contain a request for registration, the applicant's information, a list of goods or services for which the CTM pertains, and if its logo then a JPEG version of the logo.

Fees

OHIM application fee for up to 3 classes are  €900. For each class above 3 will be further €150.00. The filling fee needs to be paid within 1 month of filing.