The impact of the new EU trademark regime on entrepreneurial competitiveness
The impact of the new EU trademark regime on entrepreneurial competitiveness

Summary/Abstract: This article addresses the impact of the new EU trademark reform and regime on businesses and their competitiveness. Under the auspices of the Europe 2020 strategy, the European Commission proclaimed its commitment to smart, sustainable and inclusive growth with the focus on supporting competitiveness. Consequently, the sphere of intellectual property became pivotal and led to the enactment of a set of Regulations and Directives designed to reform the EU trademark system. The ultimate goal of this reform was to facilitate competitiveness and to contribute to the entrepreneurial drive in this respect by reducing registration costs per class and by offering new types of trademark. The statistical data generated by the exploration of the EUIPO, along with data on all registered unconventional EUTMs and case studies of the annual filing of top applicants, provides a sufficient foundation for a critical meta-analysis in order to assess the business interest in one class of trademark, in new trademark types and in trademark portfolio strategies. The results reveal a split between the trademark perspective of the EU and that of businesses, and answer these three research questions in a surprising manner. The surrounding discussions and arguments even suggest that the entrepreneurial drive for competitiveness through the employment of EUTMs is not effectively and efficiently supported by the reform. A holistic approach and preferences recognised by businesses point to a need for the enhancement of awareness and significant changes to this reform to make it a true mechanism for protecting legitimate entrepreneurial interests and competitiveness.

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