The legal aspects of the Community Trade Mark

Book abstract:

This book is a practical guide to the legal aspects of the Community trade mark, which is an intellectual property right created by a European Council Regulation of December 1993 and which entered into force on 1st April 1996. The main attraction of the Community trade mark is that it enables an applicant to obtain and maintain, with only one registration, trade mark protection throughout the 15 Member States of the European Union.

The aim of this book is to describe how the Community trade mark system works and what procedures it follows, as well as to draw attention to issues of potential concern for any Community trade mark proprietor. The text is thus anchored on the European Union Regulations which set out the rules for the Community trade mark system, and then critically analyses how those Regulations have so far been applied in practice. This analysis notably involves an examination of the administrative practices developed by the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (OHIM) in respect of the Community trade mark, including a detailed review of the case law developed through early September 2000 by the Boards of Appeal of the OHIM. As it is possible to challenge decisions of the OHIM before the Court of Justice of the European Communities, this analysis also incorporates a study of the case law developed by that Court either in respect of, or which is otherwise relevant to, Community trade marks.

This book is intended as a practical guide to the Community trade mark system. All examples in the book are derived from situations which have been experienced either by the writers or their colleagues.

Eric Gastinel is the Senior Registrar to the Boards of Appeal of the OHIM in Alicante, Spain. He practised for a number of years in American law firms, specialising in Intellectual Property and European Community law matters. Mark Milford is a barrister and a member of the New York bar. He has lectured on a number of international law subjects, including the conflicts of law.