Posts Tagged ‘OHIM’

A trade mark can be refused where it is descriptive of the goods and services it covers. This could be where the mark ‘designates the kind, quality, quantity, intended purpose, value or geographical origin’ of the goods or service or other characteristic. For example, ‘GOOD BOOKS’ would be a descriptive trade mark in a class [...]

So you may have made an online application to OHIM and you may be wondering why, after being informed by the EU registry (OHIM) that you’re trade mark has been published, you are still waiting for the certificate in the post. Don’t worry it’s not a postal strike, this time, that has delayed its arrival, [...]

Are you currently in the process of registering a trade mark for your brand? Everything can be ticking along smoothly until the day you receive a letter from the registry saying that your application has been opposed. What to do next? Pull out, settle or defend to the bitter end? Negotiations are certainly preferable to [...]

In a blog post earlier this year I mentioned how we were being charged £15 by HSBC for transferring funds to OHIM in respect of our clients’ European Union trade mark fees, only to suddenly find we were being charged a further 20 or so Euros per transaction for transfers made months before. It was [...]

We are alarmed by the increasing number of scammers that target trade mark applicants in the UK and the EU.  Clearly some people are misled into paying the fees otherwise the scams would not continue as they do. The scammers send unsolicited mail to new trade mark applicants with a document resembling an invoice, implying [...]

The EU Registry recently announced a fee reduction from €1,600 for an online application and registration in 3 classes to €900. A draft Regulation is currently being prepared for adoption by the Commission, following which it will be published in the Official Journal. The fee reductions will take effect the day after publication. This is [...]

We recently blogged here about OHIM’s plans to reduce its fees for trade mark applications, and it seems the UK IPO are following suit with a plan to reduce trade mark application fees by 15%. The Financial Times reports here that the IPO are keen to ensure that the UK IPO trade mark fees are [...]

We recently queried some small items of 20 Euro bank charges which we could find no explanation for.  HSBC identified the charges as being raised by Spanish bankers – Banco de Bilbao – who take receive money on behalf of OHIM (the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market) the body to whom we pay [...]