Guidelines on the practice of the EUIPO
The “Guidelines for Examination in the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) on Community Trade Marks” are designed to systematically bring together the principles of practice derived from the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union, the case-law of the Office’s Boards of Appeal, the decisions of the Office’s Operations Departments and the outcome of Convergence Programmes. They provide a unique source of reference on Office practice with regard to Community Trade Marks and are intended to be of practical use both to Office staff in charge of the various procedures and to users of the Office’s services. The Guidelines have been drawn up to reflect Office practice in the most frequent scenarios. They contain only general instructions, which have to be adapted to the particularities of a case. They are not legislative texts and, therefore, are not of a binding nature. Its structure is as follows: Editor’s note and general introduction
Part A: General rules
- Section 0: General Overview of the registration process of a CTM
- Section 1: Means of communication, time limits
- Section 2: General principles to be respected in the proceedings
- Section 3: Payment of fees, costs and charges
- Section 4: Language of proceedings
- Section 5: Professional representation
- Section 6: Revocation of decisions and cancellation of entries in the register and correction of errors
- Section 7: Revision
- Section 8: Restitutio in integrum
- Section 9: Enlargement
Part B: Examination
- Section 1: Proceedings
- Section 2: Examination of formalities
- Section 3: Classification
- Section 4: Absolute grounds for refusal and community collective marks
Part C: Opposition
- Section 0: Introduction
- Section 1: Procedural matters
- Section 2: Identity and likelihood of confusion
- Chapter 1: General principles and methodology
- Chapter 2: Comparison of goods and services
- Chapter 3: Comparison of signs
- Chapter 4: Distinctiveness
- Chapter 5: Dominant character
- Chapter 6: Relevant public and degree of attention
- Chapter 7: Other factors
- Chapter 8: Global assessment
- Section 3: Trade mark filed by an agent (art. 8 (3) CTMR)
- Section 4: Rights under article 8(4)CTMR
- Section 5: Trade marks with reputation (art. 8 (5) CTMR)
- Section 6: Proof of use.
Part D: Cancellation
- Section 1: Cancellation proceedings
- Section 2: Substantive provisions
Part E: Register Operations
- Section 1: Changes in a registration
- Section 2: Conversion
- Section 3: CTMs as objects of property
- Chapter 1: Transfer
- Chapter 2: Licences
- Section 4: Renewal
- Section 5: Inspection of files
- Section 6: Other entries in the register
- Chapter 1: Counterclaims
Part M: International marks
Original distribution URL : https://oami.europa.eu/ohimportal/en/web/guest/manual-of-trade-mark-practice
