Brussels, 15/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 23 March 2016, the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM) will be renamed EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) under EU Regulation 2015/2424 published in the EU Official Journal at the end of 2015. The legislation also changes the fees payable to the office, leading to an overall cut in fees.
The biggest changes in terminology are to the name of the office and the name of the Community trademark. In eight days' time, all existing Community trademarks and requests for Community trade works will become EU trademarks and requests for EU trademarks respectively. According to OHIM spokesperson Luis Berenguer, the change in terminology will help give a better understanding of what the office does and the new name makes more sense, is more understandable and enables European citizens to understand that this is an EU agency, although it has full legal and financial autonomy.
From the administrative viewpoint, despite the complexity of introducing the changes in terminology, companies will still be able to use any of the 23 official EU languages in their dealings with the agency. From Wednesday 23 March onwards, the future EUIPO website will only be available in the agency's five working languages (English, French, German, Italian and Spanish). It will take a month or two to get the website translated into all 23 EU languages.
The fee system applying to EUIPO will be different from that of OHIM., changing to move from a basic fee covering up to three classes of products and services (€900 to lodge a trademark online and €1,050 for lodging a trademark in a paper version) to a payment system by class (a 'class' describing the product or the type of service). Applicants and trademark holders would only pay for the number of classes they need. In practice, applicants would pay a lower fee if their request only covers a single class, the same fee if it covers two classes and a higher fee if it covers three or more classes. The renewal fees have all been substantially reduced to the registration fee; while the fees for opposition, cancellation and appeal have all been reduced.
OHIM, whose headquarters is in Alicante (Spain) was set up in 1994 to manage and register Community trademarks that identify the companies that provide a product or service. Since the trademark was created, the office has received more than 1,500,000 applications from more than 200 countries. In 2015 alone, OHIM received 130,375 applications for trademarks, an increase of some 11% on 2014. Since 2003, the office has also managed Community designs and models applying across the EU: 950,000 applications for Community designs or models have been registered. In 2015, the office received 97,119 design applications.
New powers. In 2012, the office's powers were extended with the creation of the European Observatory of Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights. Its main job is the analysis and publication of important, objective data on the value of intellectual property (IP) and infringements of it. The idea is to acquire rigorous information to raise awareness in society and among the authorities of the importance of IP. The Observatory's studies have highlighted crucial information for understanding the importance and impact of IP in the economy and on European citizens.
One job in three in the EU is created by sectors where IP plays a decisive role, and 39% of EU GDP is generated by areas that make intensive use of EP rights, which represents €4.7 billion. Despite the importance of IP rights' contribution to the European economy in terms of jobs and economic well-being, and improvement in the quality of products and services, European citizens' behaviour is contradictory: - 42% of Europeans consider that it is acceptable to buy or make personal use of counterfeit products; - 38% think that their purchase is justified if it is an act of protest; - 34% thank it is acceptable for economic reasons. As an example, there are large economic losses in sectors such as cosmetics. The Observatory notes a loss of €4.7 billion a year and the suppression of more than 50,000 direct jobs. For clothing, shoes and accessories, €26.3 billion is lost, along with 363,000 direct jobs. Claire Castel, head of public awareness-raising at the European Observatory, says there is a long way to go to raise awareness and protect creativity and innovation. This will essentially involve education at school, that should continue in the home, she said.
Regulation 2015/2424 aims to rationalise the procedure and boost legal security (clearly defining all the office's tasks including the framework for cooperation and convergence of practice with the member states' intellectual property offices); revising the fees payable to the office by making an overall reduction in the trademark renewal fees and introducing a system of 'fee by class.' (see EUROPE 11454). (Original version in French by Maëlle Didion, stag)