Fees Payable to the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM)

This Regulation sets the fees payable to the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM) and the rules for payment. In 2005 and 2009, the Commission decided to reduce the fees payable to the OHIM.

ACT

Commission Regulation (EC) No 2869/95 of 13 December 1995 on the fees payable to the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) [See amending acts].

SUMMARY

The fees governed by the Regulation include an application fee for a Community trade mark, a fee for opposition to a Community trade mark, registration and renewal fees, a fee for an application for revocation or for a declaration of invalidity, an appeal fee and a fee for the cancellation of the registration of a licence or other right.

Payment of fees

Fees and charges due to the Office must be paid:

• by payment or transfer to a bank account held by the Office;
• by delivery or remittance of cheques made payable to the Office; or
• in cash.

Currency of payment

All fees and all costs relating to a Community trade mark application must be paid in euros.

Payment details

For all payments, the name of the person making the payment must be indicated and the following information must be provided:

• when paying the application fee, the purpose of the payment, i.e. “application fee”;
• when paying the registration fee, the file number of the application being registered and the purpose of the payment, i.e. “registration fee”;
• when paying the opposition fee, the file number of the application, the name of the applicant for a Community trade mark whose application is being opposed and the purpose of the payment, i.e. “opposition fee”;
• when paying the revocation or invalidity fee, the registration number, the name of the holder of the Community trade mark against which the application is directed and the purpose of the payment, i.e. “revocation fee” or “invalidity fee”.

Deemed date of payment

The date on which a payment is considered to have been made to the Office is as follows:

• for a deposit or transfer: the date on which the amount of the payment or transfer is actually entered in a bank account held by the Office;
• for delivery or remittance of cheques: the date on which the cheque is received by the Office, provided that it is honoured;
• for a cash payment: the date on which the cash payment is received.

Insufficient payment

In principle, a payment deadline is deemed to have been met only if the full amount of the fee has been paid in due time. If the fee is not paid in full, the amount paid will be refunded after the payment deadline has passed.

Refund of insignificant amounts

Where an excessive sum is paid to cover a fee, the excess will not be refunded if the amount is insignificant and the party concerned has not expressly requested a refund. (It is for the President to determine what constitutes an insignificant amount.)

Refund of fees following refusal of protection

If protection is refused the fee to be refunded is shown in the table in Article 2. In the case of an individual mark the fee to be refunded is €1100, plus €200 for each class of goods and services. In the case of a collective mark the fee to be refunded is €2200 plus €400.

If the refusal concerns part of the goods and services, the fee to be refunded is equal to 50% of the difference between the fees per class paid and the fees per class which would have been payable.

Reduction in the fees payable to the OHIM from 2005 and 2009

The Commission decided to reduce the fees payable to the OHIM by adopting Regulation (EC) No 1687/2005 of 14 October 2005, which is designed to reduce the cost of protecting intellectual property for businesses operating in the EU’s single market. This reduction in fees is the result of productivity gains at the OHIM, which therefore wanted to pass the savings on to business as a whole.

Regulation (EC) No 355/2009 of March 2009 reduces the fees charged by the OHIM and simplifies the fee structure by fixing the amount of the registration fee for a Community trade mark at zero. Only the application fee need be paid. The registration fee is also fixed at zero in relation to international registrations. These reductions in fees are carried out in order to ensure that the OHIM budget is balanced while fostering access to the Community trade mark system for users.

The consequences of the reductions made in 2009 include the following:

• entreprises will only have to pay an application fee of €1050 instead of the €1750 that it previously cost to apply for and register a Community trade mark;
• applications made by Internet will be charged at an even lower rate, which will be €900 instead of the €1600 payable in total at present.

RELATED ACTS

Communication of 22 December 2006 from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council - The financial perspectives of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) [COM(2006) 865 final – Not published in the Official Journal]. This Communication deals with the long-term management of the financing of the OHIM. The OHIM provides EU-wide protection for trade marks and designs for companies from all over the world. It is funded by the businesses that use its services. The OHIM is generating substantial cash reserves, particularly as a result of the ever increasing number of applications for trade marks and designs. Despite fee reductions in 2005, cash reserves are expected to increase still further in the next few years. However, the annual surplus cannot be allowed to continue to exceed the financial resources needed by the Office to operate. The Commission has therefore proposed a periodic review of the fees payable for Community trade marks in order to ensure that the OHIM has a more balanced budget.

Council Regulation (EC) No 207/2009 of 26 February 2009 on the Community trade mark [Official Journal L 78/1 of 24.3.2009].

See also

• Further information is available on the OHIM website.

Last updated: 07.10.2009