OFFICE FOR HARMONISATION IN THE INTERNAL MARKET (OHIM)

The Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs), or OHIM is the trademark and designs registry for the internal market of the European Union. It is based in Alicante, Spain. OHIM works in partnership with national and regional EU intellectual property offices, user groups, the European Commission and other international organisations. The Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) was created as a decentralised agency of the European Union to offer IP rights protection to businesses and innovators across the EU and beyond. OHIM registers around 100 000 Community trade marks and close to 75 000 designs annually. OHIM counts more than 1 200 staff, made up of civil servants, permanent and temporary staff and external contractors.

More recently, OHIM’s  remit has been extended in the form of the European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights. Entrusted to OHIM in June 2012, the Observatory brings public and private stakeholders together in the fight against piracy and counterfeiting. For OHIM, this has meant becoming an active participant in the next stage of the intellectual property lifecycle: helping to secure the results of creativity and innovation after they have been registered.

Task

The task of OHIM is to promote and manage Community Trade Marks and Community Designs within the European Union.  It carries out registration procedures for titles to EU industrial property and keeps public registers of these titles. It shares with the courts in Member States of the European Union the task of pronouncing judgment on requests for invalidation of registered titles.

The Office is a public establishment which enjoys legal, administrative and financial independence. OHIM’s  activities are subject to EU law. The Court of Justice of the European Union is responsible for overseeing the legality of the Office's decisions. The Office is responsible for balancing its budget from its own revenue, which is derived mainly from registration fees and fees for the renewal of trade mark protection.

European Judges' Symposia

Every two years the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) organises a European Judges’ Symposium on trade mark and design issues. These Symposia aim to promote harmonisation in the application of the Community trade mark and Community design regulations at all jurisdictional levels and, in particular, at the level of Community trade mark and design courts. These are national courts of the EU Member States which have jurisdiction in disputes concerning the infringement and the validity of Community trade marks and Community designs.

Judges from both Member States and candidate countries attend these Symposia along with representatives from the Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance. Working sessions have focused on absolute and relative grounds for refusing registration of a Community trade mark, proceedings brought before the Community trade mark courts and the impact of EU enlargement on the Community trade mark system.