Community Trademarks (CTM)

What is a CTM?
A Community Trade Mark (introduced in 1996) is a trademark valid acroshttp://www.magnumip.com.au/wp-admin/edit-tags.phps the European Union, registered with OHIM.

Option 1: Country-by-country
If you only want to register your trademark in a couple of EU countries it may be advisable for you apply for those countries only through the  Madrid System – I call this the country-by-country approach.

Option 2: The “all or nothing approach”
However, if you are wishing to cover a number or most EU countries its worth considering applying for a CTM. This means that if you make a CTM application you apply for all Member countries not just a selection as you would, using option 1 (above).

The down-side of taking the “all-or-nothing approach” is that if a ground for refusal applies only with respect to one Member State of the Community, the OHIM will refuse the CTM application for all member states.

The up-side (besides it only costing 900 Euros in application fees, no registration fee) is that if you do take this all or nothing approach and it’s rejected you can still take option 1 and maintain the filing date of the CTM (for those countries not rejected or refused).

Yes, it’s a pretty complex area so yes, you’ll also have to factor in professional fees as well when deciding what option to take.