What is the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO)? Review of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO)

Functions

The Office is responsible for the registration and administration of EU trademarks and designs, and provides businesses and individuals with the exclusive right to trademark and design protection throughout the EU through a unified application. The work of this EU agency is not limited to registration, but also includes the harmonization of registration practices for trademarks and designs, and the development of common IP management tools. This work is carried out in collaboration with external partners such as national and regional IP offices and user associations in the 27 EU Member States, with the aim of providing users of the trademark and design system with a better registration experience. Since 2012, EUIPO has hosted the European Observatory on Intellectual Property Infringements, bringing together public and private stakeholders to fight piracy and counterfeiting.

Legal Background

The Regulation establishing the EUIPO was adopted by the Council of the European Union in December 1993 and amended twice, in 2009 and 2015. It created the European Union Trademark (formerly known as the Community Trademark) as a legal instrument of EU law and established the EUIPO (formerly the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market or OHIM) as an EU institution with legal, administrative and financial autonomy.

Council Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 of 12 December 2001 created registered Community designs.

On 23 March 2016, the Office was renamed the European Union Intellectual Property Office with the entry into force of Regulation (EC) 2015/2424. This Regulation brought about changes in three different areas:

Trademark Fees

The fee system changes from a basic fee covering up to three classes of goods and services to a "pay per class" system, where the online fee is €850 for one class, €50 for two and €150 each for three or more classes.

Technological change

The Regulation brings many changes in the areas of graphic representation of trademarks, examination procedures, absolute grounds for refusal, relative grounds for refusal, goods and services, opposition and cancellation procedures, and appeals. It also creates the certification mark, a new type of trademark at EU level, which allows certification bodies and followers of certification systems to use the mark as a sign for goods or services that meet certification requirements.

Institutional Change

The Regulation clearly defines all the tasks of the EUIPO at the institutional level, including the framework for cooperation and convergence of practices between the Office and the national and regional intellectual property offices of the EU.

manage

The governance structure of the EUIPO consists of a Management Committee and a Budget Committee, each composed of one representative from each Member State, two representatives of the European Commission and one representative of the European Parliament.

The European Council decides on the appointment of the Executive Director, the Deputy Executive Director and the President and Chairperson of the Board of Appeal.

The OHIM Boards of Appeal are an administrative legal body of the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) that decides on appeals in matters concerning trademarks and designs registered in the European Union. They are able to make decisions on both legal and factual issues.

EU Trademark and Design Registration

A European Union Trademark (EUTM) grants exclusive rights in all current and future member states of the European Union through a unified registration filed online. The basic registration fee is €850 and covers one class of goods and services. An EUTM registration is valid for 10 years and can be renewed indefinitely in 10-year increments.

A registered Community design (RCD) also confers exclusive rights throughout the European Union and future member states. The fee for registering and publishing a design is €350. A registered Community design is initially valid for 5 years from the date of application and can be renewed in 5-year increments up to a maximum of 25 years.