Bonjour Mesdames, Messieurs,
Bonjour Mesdames, Messieurs,
Bonjour Mesdames, Messieurs,
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Ladies and Gentlemen,<br />
I would like to begin by expressing my heartfelt appreciation to the Hungarian Patent Office<br />
and in particular to President Bendzsel and Mr Ficsor for inviting me to this Conference and<br />
thus enabling me to be with you today. It has offered me the perfect opportunity to visit this<br />
wonderful city of Budapest again.<br />
My presentation today is on the relationship between the Benelux system and the Community<br />
system. Before addressing the issue itself, I would like to say a few words about the Benelux<br />
and my Organisation by way of general introduction.<br />
First of all, I must emphasise the fact that I am and will always be in favour of the CTM. It<br />
was designed for companies with commercial activities on the level of the Community: as a<br />
result our companies now pay lower fees to obtain registration of a European trade mark,<br />
administrative formalities are less onerous and it provides a single registration valid for the<br />
whole European Community territory. But I do have some misgivings, one of which is basic<br />
criticism on the way the system works. In no way should this be construed as expressing an<br />
anti-European attitude. I wanted to mention this at the start of my presentation as some people<br />
are averse to sound debate and for want of their own opinion, try to say that any criticism on<br />
the way the CTM works is a sign of opposition to the CTM itself. Well, in my case this is far<br />
removed from the truth! I just wanted to make that clear!<br />
And now a few words on the Benelux: the population is only 27 million in an area of just<br />
77,000 square km. So it is not very big. Nevertheless we manage to speak four official<br />
languages! With regard to trademarks and designs: our three countries no longer have national<br />
legislation – instead trade mark law is governed by the Benelux Convention on Intellectual<br />
Property (IP) and my Office is entrusted with its execution. To give you an idea of our<br />
workload: in 2008 we handled 24,000 Benelux filings, 13,500 Benelux renewals and 6,000<br />
international registrations with effect in the Benelux. For designs, the figures are even more<br />
modest! All the indicators are showing a downward trend, which is largely due to the success<br />
of the CTM. At the same time, the number of CTM registrations coming from the Benelux is<br />
steadily growing: there have been 30,262 registrations since the CTM came into force in<br />
1996, a figure which ranks the Benelux in seventh place on the international listings by state,<br />
far outstripping China and Japan!<br />
So it appears that Benelux companies are increasingly opting for the CTM and turning their<br />
backs on the Benelux trademark!<br />
One of the main reasons for this swing towards the CTM, at least in my opinion, lies in the<br />
fact that the term “territorial use” has not been legally defined for the CTM. And moreover,<br />
has been very narrowly interpreted by a non-competent authority.<br />
1- The CTM was adopted by the Council on 20 December 1993 in the form of EC<br />
Regulation 40/94 which I will refer to here simply as the „Regulation‟. Article 15,<br />
paragraph 1 of the Regulation says the following and I quote : “If, within a period of<br />
five years following registration, the proprietor has not put the Community trade mark<br />
to genuine use in the Community in connection with the goods or services in respect of<br />
which it is registered, etc etc,...” This article was clarified by a Joint Declaration of<br />
the Commission and Council of Ministers on 22 October 1995. I will refer to this