| European Union directive | |
 | |
| Title | Trade Mark Directive 2015 |
|---|---|
| Made by | Council |
| Made under | Article 100a |
| History | |
| Date made | 2015 |
| Other legislation | |
| Amended by | see text |
| Current legislation | |
The Trade Marks Directive 2015 (2015/2436) harmonises trade mark rights in European Union law.
Council Directive No. 89/104/EEC, "to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to trade marks", was introduced into European Union law on 21 December 1988. [1] Its provisions were required to be introduced into national law by 29 December 1991. On this date, the Directive therefore became law with direct effect in each of the member states of the European Union. It was repealed in 2008 by EU Directive 2008/95/EC, which in turn was recast by Directive 2015/2436.
In the UK the Directive was transposed into domestic law by The Trade Marks Regulations 2018 which amended the Trade Marks Act 1994. [2]
The Directive was intended to approximate the laws of the Member States of the European Union which relate to trade marks and to harmonise disparities in the respective trade mark laws which had the potential to impede the free movement of goods and provision of services, or to distort competition within the European Union. The Directive provided a framework of minimum provisions applicable throughout the European Union but did not seek to impose onerous obligations on national trademark registries. For example, the Directive did not stipulate how member states should deal with the registration, revocation and invalidity of trademarks. These elements were left to the national bodies' discretion.
The Directive stipulates that signs cannot be registered if they are:
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The European Union Intellectual Property Office, founded in 1994, is the European Union Agency responsible for the registration of the European Union trade mark (EUTM) and the registered Community design (RCD), two unitary intellectual property rights valid across the 27 Member States of the EU. Every year, it registers an average of 135 000 EU trade marks and close to 100 000 designs. The EUIPO is also responsible for maintaining an Orphan Works Registry. Registered works have certain permitted acts under the Orphan Works Directive.
An approximation is anything that is intentionally similar but not exactly equal to something else.
The Trade Marks Act 1994 is the law governing trade marks within the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man. It implements EU Directive No. 89/104/EEC which forms the framework for the trade mark laws of all EU member states, and replaced an earlier law, the Trade Marks Act 1938. Although the UK's trade mark regime covers the Isle of Man, it does not extend to the Channel Islands which have their own trade mark registers.
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Directive 2004/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the enforcement of intellectual property rights is a European Union directive in the field of intellectual property law, made under the Single Market provisions of the Treaty of Rome. The directive covers civil remedies only—not criminal ones.
Trade mark law of the European Union is governed by European Union law together with national law within those countries which are also member states of the European Union. Trade marks may be registered within individual countries, or across the whole of the EU. In the case of a European Trademark is granted a unitary character that applies protection for that mark across the whole of the EU with certain exceptions. Exceptions include but not limited to: specific language conflicts in a particular reason as well as the case where there was a previously granted national trademark that would conflict in the case of a given EUTM.
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Arsenal Football Club vs. Matthew Reed is a trademark infringement case concerning the sale of unlicensed Arsenal Football Club merchandise.
Shield Mark B.V. vs. Joost Kist is a decision by the 6th Senate of the European Court of Justice, case C-283/01, which dealt with the question whether sound signs may be registered as trademarks, and what requirements those sound signs and their trademark entry have to fulfill to be consistent with Article 2 of the First Council Directive of 21 December 1988 to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to trade marks (89/104/EEC).
Regulation No. 305/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of the European Union is a regulation of 9 March 2011 which lays down harmonised conditions for the marketing of construction products and replaces Construction Products Directive (89/106/EEC). This EU regulation is designed to simplify and clarify the existing framework for the placing on the market of construction products. It replaced the earlier (1989) Construction Products Directive (89/106/EEC).
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Société des Produits Nestlé S.A. v. Cadbury UK Limited is a trademark law case decision by the High Court of Justice, Court of Chancery, in the United Kingdom. The Court held that a specific shade of the colour purple was registrable as a trademark for the following goods: milk chocolate in bar and tablet form; milk chocolate for eating; drinking chocolate; preparations for making drinking chocolate.
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