Provisional agreement on trade mark legislation: ALDE welcomes better protection for businesses and entrepreneurs

The European Parliament, the Council and the European Commission have today reached an agreement on a modernisation of the European trade mark package. This revised piece of legislation, which has been discussed for two years, will tackle counterfeiting and reduce the bureaucratic burden and economic costs when registering trademarks. This modernised legislation maintains the national and EU trade mark structure and introduces important changes to the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM). This agreement constitutes a step forward towards the further harmonisation of procedures for national and European trademark applications.

Cecilia Wikström, rapporteur for this piece of legislation, commented: “I’m glad that after almost two years of hard work and tough negotiations we managed to reach a balanced approach on trade mark legislation, which will be simple and flexible enough to provide businesses and entrepreneurs with the protection that meets their needs”.

“Today’s deal will ensure that trade mark registration will be quicker, cheaper and smoother for businesses in the future. The new protection rules will also ensure better protection of trademarks by taking into account new technologies and enabling flexible solutions, helping companies to expand and develop their businesses”