On May 1, 2004, the following ten states joined the European Union: Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. For the first time, enlargement takes place when Community trademarks and designs are in existence, according to the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM).
To ensure the unitary character of the Community trademark (CTM) and Community design (CD) and to fully respect the pre-existing rights in the new Member States, both the Community Trade Mark Regulation (CTMR) and the Community Designs Regulation (CDR) have been amended.
The main consequence for holders of CTMs filed before the date of accession is that their protection has been automatically extended to the territories of the new member states as of May 1, 2004.
The extension of these existing CTM rights is automatic. No form has to be completed or fees have to be paid. More than 350, 000 CTM applications and registrations will be extended and enforceable before Community trademark courts in the new member states as from the date of accession.
The same automatic extension applies to some 33,000 Registered Community Designs. Holders of registered and unregistered Community Designs will equally benefit from the automatic extension of their rights, and they will be able to enforce them before the Community Design courts to be established in the new member states.
Since May 1, 2004, applications can be filed at OHIM in any of the 20 official languages; for example, Hungarian. The OHIM will translate the application into the remaining 19 languages for publication.
Commenting on enlargement, the President of OHIM, Wubbo de Boer, said: “The major challenge of enlargement consisted in undergoing this process without having to increase the fees payable in the registration process. This could only be achieved by means of streamlining workflows and optimizing systems, moving to e-business tools wherever possible.”
More information about the impact of Enlargement on the Community Trade Marks and Design systems can be found under: http://oami.eu.int/en/enlargement/default.htm