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MARQUES is keeping this EU TM Reform
mini-site running as a resource for those who wish to study
the process of the Reform. The Reform was started when the European Commission launched the Tender in July 2009 and the Max Planck Institute was awarded the contract in November 2009. The Commission launched its proposal for revision of the Directive and the Regulation in March 2013. After negotiations between the three parties in the Trilogue – the Council, the Parliament and the Commission – a political agreement was reached in April 2015. The new Directive and Regulation were published on 23 December and 25 December 2015 respectively. The Regulation entered into force on 23 March 2016, and OHIM changed its name to EUIPO on that date. On 1 October 2017, other changes were introduced, including the EU certification marks and the removal of the graphical representation requirement. In May 2017, the Commission
adopted the secondary legislation package on the EU
trademark consisting of the Implementing Regulation and the
Delegated Regulation. The acts, replaced in March 2018 to
take into account updated references to the Codified version
of the EU Trademark Regulation, cover a wide range of
diverse topics such as revocation of a decision or entry in
the Registry, abolition of the certification requirement for
seniority claims, conversion, suspension of the proceedings,
appointment of a common representative and authorisations,
translations, as well as requirements in relation to the
representation of the trade mark, including colour, sound,
motion and multimedia marks. The European Trademark Team
followed the development of these acts to ensure appropriate
representation of brand owners’ interests. Member States had 3 years (January 2019) to transpose the Directive into their national laws, except for the administrative invalidation and revocation procedures where the Member States have 7 years (January 2023). At the 2010 Winter Meeting in Nice the MARQUES Council created an Ad Hoc Task Force, aimed at following developments, liaising with the Commission, Council and Parliament as well as other stakeholders and drawing up MARQUES observations in connection with the on-going work in relation to the Reform. In 2016 following the entry into force of the Regulation, the Task Force had finished its work and was dissolved. For more information on the work of the Task Force, please see the MARQUES Observations tab. All other documents published during the Reform process, including the previous Directive and Regulation, can be found under the Background Documents tab. MARQUES expresses its gratitude to the members of the EU Trade Mark Task Force:
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