On 15th December 2015, the European Parliament has approved the trademark reform package.
The purpose of this package, consisting in one directive (to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to trade marks – recast of the directive 2008/95) and one regulation (amending Council Regulation (EC) No 207/2009 on the Community trademark), is to strengthen and further harmonize both national and EU trademark systems as well as to make trademark registration cheaper, quicker and more reliable. It also aims to provide more efficient means in the fight against counterfeit goods in transit through EU territory, without prejudice to the smooth transit of generic medicines.
Further changes concern the structure and governance of the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM), which is in charge for EU trademark and design registrations and which will, from now on, be called “European Union Intellectual Property Office” (EUIPO). In the same way, the Community trademark now becomes the European Union trademark.
The EP Secretary-General must now arrange for the publication of the directive and regulation in the Official Journal of the European Union before the package can enter into force.
