1993 12.20, the EU conference adopted the Regulation on European * * * Homologous Trademarks, referred to as CMTR. Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and other EU countries began to implement the trademark system used in all EU countries (by June 2007, 65438+ 10/,the EU had expanded to 27 countries). The EU Trademark Office began to accept EU trademark applications on June 1996 65438+ 10/0. The term of protection of EU trademarks is 10 year, which can be extended. The term of protection for each extension is 10 year. Applicants for EU trademarks are not limited to nationals of EU member States, but also include nationals of other member States that have joined the Paris Convention and the World Intellectual Property Organization. EU trademarks now cover 27 countries in the EU: Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, Denmark, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, Finland, Greece, Austria, Netherlands, Ireland, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Turkey and Slovenia. The cost of EU trademarks is low. You only need to apply for registration once to use the trademark in the 27 member States of the whole European Union. Compared with applying separately in each member country, the cost is greatly reduced; Centralized protection program. A trademark registration can be protected by the 27 member States of the European Union, and the adjudication of trademark cases will be enforced in all countries of the European Union. A registered trademark can only be used in one EU country. The use of trademarks in any EU country is enough to resist the application for cancellation on the grounds of unused trademarks; Enjoy the priority of the Paris convention. Where the same trademark is used for the designated name of one or more commodities or services, priority may be given when applying for a homonym trademark six months after the application is filed by the member States of the Paris Convention; A registered trademark published in an EU member state may claim priority when applying for an EU trademark. Not only traditional trademarks such as words and logos can be registered, but also new trademarks such as sound, smell, product appearance and structure can apply for registration; A trademark application can cover up to three categories of goods or services. If there are more than three categories, the cost of each category will be added. The materials required for trademark application are applied by a legal person, with a copy of 1 business license or valid registration certificate attached; Apply as a natural person, with personal identity certificate 1 copy; 5 copies of trademark pattern, with clear requirements and good paper quality. If it is a color trademark, 1 black and white manuscript and 5 color manuscripts shall be submitted; Specifications shall not be less than 5cm×5cm, and the maximum shall not exceed10cm× 20cm; ; Fill in 1 application form. The application must be signed by the applicant or agent, list the goods or services to be registered, and indicate the trademark category. You can check it from this website and the trademark classification table. The power of attorney for trademark registration must be signed and sealed by the applicant. Trademarks that can be registered in the European Union can include any graphic marks, especially words, including names, patterns, letters, numbers, the shape of goods or the appearance of their packages, as long as these marks can distinguish the use of goods or services from other kinds of uses. Therefore, the following marks can be used for trademark registration: text marks include letters, numbers, or a combination of letters, numbers and words; Graphical markers with or without text; Color graphic marking; Color or combination of colors; Three-dimensional marking; Phonetic symbols, etc. The applicant of the EU trademark registration procedure applies to the EU Trademark Office or the Trademark Offices of EU member countries; The EU Trademark Office will notify the trademark authorities of member countries of their trademark examination applications; After the approval, a three-month announcement will be made. During this period, the third party can raise various objections; If there is no objection from a third party, the application for trademark registration shall be approved within one year; It takes 12- 15 months. There are a large number of potential trademark dissidents in the EU trademark search because there are many countries covered by the EU trademark registration. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that the applicant conduct a trademark search before filing an application for European trademark registration, so as to determine whether a trademark identical or too similar to the trademark to be registered is registered by a third party and avoid unnecessary losses.