EUROPEAN UNION
August 01, 2017
Many amendments made to the EU Trademark Regulation, made on 3/23/16 will begin to come into effect in the next months, specifically four significant reforms on 1 October 2017.- Removal of graphical representation requirements - In theory this will facilitate the ease of registration for nontraditional trademarks with the EUIPO. Instead of being solely graphical, marks can be presented in whatever form is deemed relevant by the competent authorities in enabling the public recognition of the subject matter in question.
- A new EU certification mark will be introduced in October, which will allow for the certifying institutions to apply for EU-wide marks, submitting regulations governing their use.
- From October 1st, applicants seeking priority must submit their claims at the time of filing, instead of being afforded the 2 month post-filing timeframe.
- Disclaimers will no longer be able to disclaim elements of a trademark in order to overcome objections to its issuance.
On 8 June 2017, the Council of the European Union adopted the new regulation on cross-border content portability. This will allow for previously signed agreements for the viewing or dissemination of movies, series, music, games or sports will be allowed to continue without incurring any additional costs to the user. This is aimed at improving the EU's digital economy and providing equal content consumption rights to all consumers, regardless of their native state within the union. However, this regulation will only apply to paid online content (providers of free services will continue to have discretion as to whether to make their services portable or not).