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BLOG@IP::JURPatent Attorney Axel H Horns' Blog on Intellectual Property Law.
Friday, January 19, 2007Further Information on Financial Status of OHIM.In my earlier posting I had reported that according to some  press release OHIM is generating substantial cash reserves arising from several causes including steadily rising numbers of trade mark and design applications, increased productivity and improved efficiency of the agency, as well as growth in e-business. Despite recent fee reductions these cash reserves are expected to grow further in the coming years. By the end of 2005 cumulative cash reserves reached more then EUR 130 million, while cumulative reserves could easily reach EUR 375 million by the end of 2010 and nearly EUR 700 million by the end of 2016.Now, the Secretary-General of the European Commission has published with Document 5390/07 a Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council the financial perspectives of the OHIM (Document COM(2006) 865 final of the Commission dated December 22, 2006) hich contains a lot of details, in particular the graph below illustrating the estimated cumulation of cash reserves: The EU Commission states: "[...] The Commission believes it is timely to consider a structural approach to OHIM's financial management. OHIM has been in operation for more then ten years, during which it has successfully managed major events such as the introduction of e-filing, the enlargement with ten new Member States in 2004 or the first round of trade mark renewals in 2005. It is now an opportune moment to stabilise budget practice. [...]"Stay tuned. It surely will be interesting to see what the EU Member States, in their interest to save a business case for their national Offices, will argue about that matter in the EU Council and elsewhere. If the EU Community Trade Marks gets cheaper, more and more applicants might consider to switch over from national registrations to the OHIM system even if they need protection only in a handful of countries. If money would be no longer a decisive factor, the vulnerability of a Community Trade Mark to third party attacks on the basis of any conflicting prior right in anyone of the numerous EU Member States will surely be a limiting factor. Technorati Tags: OHIM
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