Major shake up for EU Trade Marks (as we can now call them)

On 23rd March 2016 a raft of changes to the European trade mark system will come into play, with the introduction of both a new Directive and a new Regulation (see quote below). 

There will be extensive changes to the way that EU trade marks are registered and how they can be challenged. There will also be a new EU certification mark, and Community Trade Marks (or "CTMs") will be rebranded as "European Union Trade Marks". 

Also, the registry for EU Trade Marks will change it's name from the faintly bonkers "Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market" (or "OHIM"), to the more prosaic but accurate, "European Union Intellectual Property Office".  

A shame really, as the odd name was an easy way for lay clients to spot the speculative invoicing scammers that target you when you apply to register a mark (it's not uncommon to receive a letter from an official sounding body, requesting a completely unwarranted payment). It used to be that if the name of the organisation sounded plausible, the letter was a scam!   ;)