Brussels, 07/03/2008 (Agence Europe) - We are still awaiting the European Commission's proposals to cut the Community trademark charges, explained Wubbo de Boer, President of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM) in an interview with this newsletter on Thursday 7 March to coincide with the publication of the 2007 report of OHIM (the EU agency responsible for issuing trademarks and copyright for designs and copyright.) He was unable to give a date for when the European Commission, which holds the powers over such issues, will unveil its plans. It is reported that some member states, particularly Spain and Italy and some of the new member states, would delay the publication of new proposals by the Commission because the price cuts would put the Community trademark (the EU trademark) in a stronger position vis-à-vis their own patents. The Commission has said that a proposal could be put forward before summer.
The situation is a bit daft in my view, explained Wubbo de Boer. OHIM's coffers are expanding by €250,000 a day directly from the private sector despite the fact that OHIM's operating rules forbid it from making a profit. OHIM has had a budget surplus for several years now, reaching €62 million in 2007 because the €200 million income is well above its operating costs (€138 million). De Boer explained that OHIM's total reserves are in excess of €300 million, reflecting the efforts to improve the quality of procedures involved in allocating the Community trademark with 80% of requests being made online.
In May 2007, the EU Competitiveness Council gave the go-ahead for a further cut in OHIM charges from the €1600 reduction that was implemented in 2005 (see EUROPE 9429 and 9050). It instructed the Commission to make an assessment of the overall Community trademark protection system ten years on from the creation of OHIM. The coexistence of OHIM and member states' national trademark offices 'has to be consolidated,' argued Wubbo de Boer, but he was not very optimistic about any radical changes being made. The Competitiveness Council also highlighted the need for databases of Community trademarks, designs and models. Two projects are currently under way at OHIM to provide free-of-charge access to national registers of trademarks and classifications of products and services.
In 2007, OHIM received 80,000 Community trademark applications and 90,000 design and model protection requests, up 13% and 10% respectively on 2006. 17% of applications for Community trademarks come from Germany, 16% from the United States, 10% from the UK, 8% each from Italy and Spain. 24% of applications for the protection of designs and models come from Germany, 14% from Italy, 9% from France and 8% from the United States. (M.B.)