Brussels, 21/05/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 25 May 2010, EU economy ministers will instruct the European Commission to revise the European trademark laws. In a draft conclusions document, the ministers call for the introduction of laws to enable the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM) to get involved in fighting counterfeiting. The ministers say that the review of the legislation should send back to national trademark offices 50% of the fees collected for the renewal of EU trademarks and should improve the coexistence of EU and national trademarks. A diplomat explained that the EU trademark is an attractive option and tending to overshadow national trademarks. The ministers do not comment on the use of the €300 million+ war-chest accumulated by OHIM in trademark fees to date.
Ahead of the Competitiveness Council, trademark holders' representatives urge ministers to wait for the outcome in the autumn of research commissioned by the European Commission on the European trademark system. Five organisations (AIM, BusinessEurope, ECTA, INTA and MARQUES) believe that the ministers' conclusions document may reduce the field of the legislative review before the recommendations made in the study commissioned from the Max Planck Institute are published.
The organisations says the impact of giving OHIM power to tackle counterfeiting should be studied in detail berceuse it would be a sea-change in the Alicante-based office's work. The five organisations do not want fees levied by OHIM to be ploughed back into national offices because the cash could be used for other purposes, like boosting national coffers. The national offices would be a situation of being judge and jury, deciding themselves on the size of fees they levy and then use for their own benefit. The Commission itself recognises that this takes power away from Europe and gives it to the Member States (see EUROPE 10082). (M.B. trans fl)