Video tour of new OHIM website

A video tour of the new OHIM website, due for launch at the beginning of next month, is now available. The video, which demonstrates the main features of the new site, has been added to the "New OHIM Website" section on the existing site. Another addition to the web page is a list of "favourites", drawn up with the help of users, which shows where the equivalent pages can be found on the new website. The links, contained in the document, "What happened to my favourites?", will go "live" when the site is launched to the public on 1 July. The "New OHIM Website" section will continue to be updated with more information on the site's features and organisation as the launch date approaches.

Links:
New OHIM Website" web page
Video tour
What happened to my favourites?

06 - 2008 - Alicante News - European Trade Marks and Designs Newsletter
New OHIM Website, Legal battle over “PRIVATE” trade mark , Raising the Bar for Design Protection, The long life of Community designs , Conducting your business with OHIM via the MyPage platform , CTM renewals , The James Nurton interview, United Kingdom CTM & RCD overviews, Luxembourg and BoA case law, E-Business roundup…

Technical cooperation agreements

OHIM helped fund promotion and information services projects on the Community trade mark and design in 17 member states last year according to a new report on technical cooperation agreements.

Link:
Report on technical cooperation agreements (PDF) (PPT)

User satisfaction - full report

The full report on OHIM's third annual User Satisfaction Survey is now available on the website. The survey, carried out by GfK Emer, includes a series of questions that are used to draw up a User Satisfaction Index (USI). The executive summary, published some weeks ago, shows that users in general and agents in particular, continue to be generally satisfied and that in 2007 their satisfaction with the Office, as measured by the USI, increased significantly, by just under 4% for agents and almost 6% for proprietors. Now full details of the study have been translated and made available for users together with a note from OHIM's President, Wubbo de Boer.

Links

• Letter from the OHIM's President
• The OHIM User Satisfaction Survey [PPT]
• Executive summary of the OHIM User Satisfaction Survey

The Documentation and Support Service of the Boards of Appeal has created an overview of selected decisions rendered by OHIM’s Boards of Appeal in 2007.

The overview is structured according to various legal issues, such as procedural issues or grounds for refusal.

The 2007 overview can be found at http://oami.europa.eu/en/office/aspects/pdf/BoAcaseLaw2007_en.pdf. The decisions of the Boards of Appeal can be found in the database of Boards of Appeal cases at http://oami.europa.eu/search/legaldocs/la/EN_boa_index.cfm.

None of the OHIM’s e-business services will be available on Sunday 11 May 2008

Due to essential maintenance work, none of the OHIM’s e-business services will be available on Sunday 11 May 2008. Normal service will be resumed on Monday 12 May 2008. We apologise for the inconvenience.

Service Charter updated

OHIM's Service Charter for 2008, setting out standards for accessibility, timeliness and quality of decisions, is now available. In order to reflect the expected impact of making national searches for trade marks optional, the “timeliness” standard is more challenging for the second half of the year. With regards to “quality”, there has also been a change in the way in which the results are presented based on a revision of OHIM's quality criteria.

Delays in Public Inspection requests

Please estimate 20 working days for requests to be handled.

Decision of the President

The President of the Office has published the following decisions:

DECISION No EX-08-1 OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE OFFICE of 24 April 2008 to adopt Guidelines concerning proceedings before the Office

DECISION No EX-08-2 OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE OFFICE of 24 April 2008 adopting Guidelines for renewal of a registered Community design

Changes to professional representation under the Madrid Protocol system

Following representations from, and consultation with, interested parties the Office has made some changes concerning Madrid Protocol system professional representation.

These changes affect the communication of search reports and surveillance letters during the examination procedure as well as the submission of receipts and opposition notifications in the case of oppositions being filed.

The changes have been inserted in OHIM’s "Manual of Trade Mark Practice", which can be consulted at: http://oami.europa.eu/en/mark/marque/manual.htm. Further details are in April's edition of Alicante News.

Results of the OHIM User Satisfaction Survey 2007

At OHIM's request , GfK Emer Ad Hoc Research has carried out a third comprehensive survey to find out what the users think about the services offered by the OHIM.

Click below to read the summary report.

Executive summary of the OHIM User Satisfaction Survey

Record year for Community trade marks and designs

OHIM has had another record year for applications for Community trade marks and designs, and 2007 also saw further significant improvements in productivity and timescales for registrations.
 
Over the past four years, the cumulative change at the Office has been dramatic, with a 50% increase in trade mark and design applications and a rise in productivity of almost 60%. Over the same period the average time to register a trade mark has fallen by one-third to 13 months, and the time taken to register a design has fallen by 60% to six weeks.
 
Links:
Press Release
OHIM Annual Report 2007

National search reports for CTMs become optional

National search reports, to check if Community trade marks applied for are similar or identical to trade marks already registered in individual EU Member States, will become optional from 10 March 2008.
From that date, national search reports will be produced only if requested by the applicant at the time the Community trade mark application is filed. The searches will be carried out in all 16 participating Member States and the fee will be EUR 192. Community search reports and warning letters will continue to be sent out as before.

Link:
Information note on the new search system

Announcement of a call for expressions of interest

The Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) has launched a call for expressions of interest (Ref. OAMI/DAGRE/AMI-08-01) for consultancy and assistance services in respect of Spanish law.

Call for expressions of interest [ES]

Communication No 1/08 of the President of the Office of 24 January 2008 concerning the protection of trade marks and designs on international exhibitions

1. The World Exposition ‘Water and Sustainable Development’ from 14 June to 14 September 2008 in Zaragoza, Spain.
   
   
2. The World Exposition ‘Better City - Better Life’ from 1 May to 31 October 2010 in Shanghai, China.
   

Link to the communication

CTM warning letters: apology

OHIM is experiencing problems with the automatic generation of letters warning the proprietors of Community trade marks mentioned in search reports that a similar or identical trade mark is being published. Over the past months, owners of a number of CTMs included in search reports have not been sent letters due to a computer problem, and other letters have been sent out late with regards to international registrations. OHIM wishes to apologise for these errors and is working to improve the accuracy and consistency of this service.

End of cheque payments for design fees

Since the beginning of this year, OHIM has only been accepting electronic payments for design-related fees.

Applications containing cheque or cash payments are currently being returned to the payer with an explanatory note and instructions for paying by bank transfer or current account.


The change to electronic payment, which was signalled on the website and in Alicante News, means faster and more secure processing of payments. It follows the earlier switch to electronic-only payments for Community Trade Marks and is in line with OHIM's e-business strategy. Users are urged to follow the new payment instructions in order to avoid delay and inconvenience

New decision of the Presidium of the Boards of Appeal

New decision of the Presidium of the Boards of Appeal concerning the organisation of the Boards, the Grand Board and the devolution of cases to a single member for the year 2008

Link to the decision