After our earlier post of today concerning the planned reduction of the Community Trade Mark fees, the OHIM has now published the following statement:

"CTM fee reduction backed by Member States

A package of fee changes for Community Trade Mark, delivering a 40% cut in the cost of trade mark protection, has been approved by the Fees Committee chaired by the European Commission in Brussels. OHIM President Wubbo de Boer said he was delighted that Member States had voted overwhelmingly for the measure, which is designed to provide better value for users and help SMEs in particular.

The draft Regulation now needs to be prepared for adoption by the Commission, following which it will be published in the Official Journal. The fee reductions will take affect the day after publication, which is expected to be within a matter of weeks.

The main elements of the package are as follows: The registration fee will be set at zero, and there will be a small offsetting increase in the application fee. The effect of this will be to simplify the process, with a single fee of €1050 for a CTM applied for by fax or paper, and €900 for an electronically filed CTM. The new fee for an application filed via the Madrid Protocol will be €870.

Details of the date of entry into force of these changes have to await the formal adoption and publication of the final text of the Regulation. But it is intended that the transitional arrangements will minimise the burden on those who have already filed applications, and will provide early financial benefits to users.

It was acknowledged by many Member States participating in the discussions that given the present economic difficulties, it was important that the financial benefits of the package should be delivered to users as quickly as possible."