A Community trade mark application is examined by the Community Trade Marks Office (OHIM) to determine whether the mark is sufficiently distinctive and a search is carried out for any earlier potentially conflicting Community trade marks. The results of the search are passed to the applicant, and the owners of any conflicting Community trade marks are notified of the application. However, OHIM has no power to refuse an application because of a conflict with an earlier mark.
An application, once accepted, is advertised and is open to opposition for a period of 3 months, as in the UK.
After the opposition period has expired, the trade mark is registered provided there is no opposition and remains in force for 10 years from the date of application.
The registration can be renewed for further 10 year periods as required.
Although a Community trade mark application is more expensive to file than a UK trade mark application, it does cover 25 countries and it can include goods or services in three classes for the basic application fee.
As with UK trade marks, the inability of OHIM to refuse a trade mark in the event of conflict with an earlier Registered Trade Mark can be looked on as either an advantage or a disadvantage.
For an applicant it can make registration more straightforward, but the owner of a Registered Trade Mark will need to be diligent if he is to prevent registration of subsequent conflicting marks.