Check your EU trademark protection

Changes to the legislation around trademarks in the EU could affect your business sin the next 6 months.

According to trademark attorneys at Withers & Rogers LLP, brands need to take action to address this within the next six months, or risk being left with narrower intellectual property (IP) rights than they originally sought.

Up until June 2012, EU trademark laws allowed goods or services to be protected in trademark registrations by using a 'class heading', a short summary of the general nature of the goods/services in the class.

As of 23 March 2016, companies have six months to submit amendments to their EU trademarks. Those with registrations covering class headings in Class 12 (vehicles), Class 7 (machines) and Class 10 (medical products) are particularly at risk. These registrations would respectively no longer cover vehicles, machine parts, or products for babies.

Read the full article on SmallBusiness.co.uk