The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) has launched “Early TM Screening”, a pre-assessment tool designed to help users identify potential issues with their prospective trade mark. This is a significantly innovative tool that makes the filing journey smoother, simpler, and less error-prone through early detection of problems that could lead to refusal of a trade mark. As a consequence, this helps users safeguard their financial investment.
While most of the pre-assessment checks were already available within the EUIPO e-filing forms, the new product brings all checks together into one dedicated, user-friendly tool to use before applying for a trade mark. Indeed, by entering their trade mark details and the class(es) of goods and services, the tool instantly analyses a range of possible issues, including potential conflicts with earlier rights (i.e. existing EU trade marks, domain names) or potential trade mark acceptability issues, namely based on absolute grounds for refusal.
After the check, users can download a detailed report summarising the results and then proceed directly to the e-filing form to apply for an EU trade mark at the EUIPO. Some of the functions of this tool are powered by AI, providing enhanced accuracy and speed in the pre-assessment process.
EUIPO’s interest in SMEs is long known. One virtuous example is the European Intellectual Property Network (EUIPN), connecting EUIPO to user groups and other IP organizations to improve the European IP system. Among its digital services, EUIPN offers financial, knowledge, legal and information support to small businesses, helping them thrive through an effective use of intellectual property.
Source: EUIPO
