European Union Level Trade Mark Legislation

The first Council Directive 89/104 / EEC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to trade marks was adopted in December 1988. A new version of the Trade Marks Directive has since been adopted on 22 October 2008, Directive 2008/95/ EC of the European Parliament and of the Council to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to trade marks (Codified version). The substantive content of the Directive was not amended at that time.

The 2008 Directive was reformed by Directive (EU) 2015/2436 of the European Parliament and of the Council to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to trade marks. The old trademark directive expired on 15th January 2019.

The Directive’s objective is to harmonize the member states’ national trademark laws.

The European Union Trademark (EU Trademark) is currently governed by Regulation EU 2017/1001 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European Union Trademark (EU Trademark Regulation), which has been applicable since 1 October 2017. In substance, the new EU Trade Mark Regulation is in line with previous legislation. The earlier EU trade mark regime was based on Council Regulation (EC) No 207/2009 on the Community trade mark.

The Regulation applies only to the EU Trademark and is directly applicable as law in all member states.