European Community Trademarks (CTMs)

A community trademark is a single trademark registration valid throughout the European Union. It is registered with OHIM.

Geographical Scope – A CTM is valid in all the member states of the European Union. It is not possible to limit its scope. Please note that the European Union includes less members than the European Patent Convention, which is not governed by the European Union.

Validity – A CTM is registered for a period of 10 years and can be renewed for subsequent periods of 10 years each time.

Advantage – a CTM is of an extremely high value. One single registration grants rights in all union countries, for a very reasonable cost.

Disadvantage – Fragility. Being a single registration, if a CTM is cancelled because of a use of the mark in one country, rights based on the mark cannot be enforced in another country. That can be prevented by local registrations.