If you are considering filing a trade mark application in the European Community you must be aware of the risks concerning national trade mark registrations which can potentially create obstacles to your mark becoming registered.

This is because a search undertaken by a UK trade mark attorney / solicitor will not undertake searches at national registries of EC member states (apart from the UK) and therefore will be unable to identify existing national registered or pending rights which may cause problems to a Community trade mark application. This can only be established once an application is published in the Trade Marks Bulletin.

Therefore, the owner of a German trade mark registration (for example) which is similar or identical to your proposed mark, which will not have been identified in a search undertaken in the UK, may oppose your Community trade mark application based on its national rights. 

Of course this is an unfortunate position for an applicant to find itself in.  However, unless trade mark searches are conducted in each member state of the EC (which would be unpractical and highly costly) then a Community trade mark application will always be risky.