News Item

Costs for trade mark protection across EU at all time low

27 March 2009

Following the notification we sent on 4 March, OHIM have now confirmed that registration fees for Community Trade Marks (CTMs) will be abolished as of 1 May 2009. Marks & Clerk will be passing on these savings directly to our clients, meaning there has never been a more cost effective time to protect a trade mark throughout the EU.

A CTM will provide trade mark protection throughout all 27 member countries of the EU so for any company wanting to trade and promote their brand across the EU, a market consisting of over 350m people with an estimated GDP of US$15 trillion, a CTM is vital.

The abolition of the registration fee will apply to those applications still in the process of examination when the new regime comes in to force on 1 May 2009, even if filed beforehand. Existing applications that have not received a request for payment of the registration fee by the time the new fees come into force, will be exempt.

Marks & Clerk's fees are already amongst the most competitive in the market. After the abolition of the CTM registration fee our charges for electronic filing, inclusive of the official fees (which will increase by €150), will fall even further to:

- Filing charges CTM in up to 3 classes: £1,295* / $1,960*

- Additional charges to registration: £450 / $680*

Altough the official fee for electronic filing will increase by €150 on 1 May 2009, those who file before this date will avoid paying both the official fee increase and the registration fee, lowering the filing cost to only £1,140* / $1,725*.

This substantial reduction in costs will now make trade mark protection throughout the EU even more competitive and we would advise clients to take advantage of the benefits of EU wide protection at the earliest opportunity.

* At current exchange rate

For more information contact your usual Marks & Clerk attorney or a member of out trade marks team.