The Benelux Office for Intellectual Property (BOIP) has issued a very interesting and potentially wide-reaching decision which states that the use by a registered trade mark owner of a trade mark in only one EU member state is not sufficient to constitute genuine use of that mark throughout the whole of the EU.

Should such this be taken up by the ECJ then this could lead to thousands of revocation actions.

Many CTM owners only use their mark in their 'home state' and often merely secure the CTM to prevent others in the EU from using the mark and also allowing them the option to expand to the EU at a later date. However if the aforementioned does go through then the owners may have to show that they have used the mark in more than one member state within 5 years or face the risk of an application for revocation. Whilst this is worrying for mark owners it should be pointed out that the level of activity to show use is relatively low, a small amount of advertising in another EU state is often considered enough to constitute use.

This has the potential to have a dramatic effect on EU trade mark law and is one to keep an eye on.