March 2008
Until recently, search reports have been provided to Community trade mark (CTM) applicants from the CTM register and some (but not all) of the national trade mark registers - Austria, Benelux, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
However, for applications filed since 10 March 2008, national searches will only be performed if a specific request is made when the application is filed, and if an official search fee is paid. As things stand, all but one of the original national offices will be participating in the new system - Benelux has opted out. The new system is 'all-or-nothing', in that it is not possible to pick and choose those national search reports which are of most interest.
A search of the European Community register will still be provided as before and this search will be reviewed and reported by us in the usual way.
Historically, the information provided in the national search reports has been rather limited, and thus not always especially useful. As a result, and in general, we do not think that there is likely to be any real value in paying for these search reports in the future. If national searches are required for particular countries, our view is that it may be preferable to make independent search arrangements and we will of course be happy to advise on this.
We have therefore decided that from now on we will not request any national search reports when filing a European Community trade mark application, unless we are specifically requested to do so, in order to keep the cost of the application procedure as low as possible.
If you wish to discuss this further, or if you have any queries, please feel free to contact us.