Registrazione dei marchi nell'Unione Europea

The Trade Mark Directive (EU) (2015/2436) and the amending Trade Mark Regulation (EU) No 2015/2424 were respectively published on 23 and 24 December 2015, as part of the EU trade mark reform legislative package. In the new lists expressly appear color and sound marks, already provided for in the Italian legislation. There is no explicit reference to olfactory marks or other non-traditional ones. Anyway, to allow more flexibility and to ensure legal certainty in relation to the representation of trademarks, the requirement of graphic representability has been deleted from the definition of an EU trade mark and of national marks. A sign can be represented in any appropriate form using generally available technology, and thus not necessarily by graphic means, as long as the representation is clear, precise, self-contained, easily accessible, intelligible, durable and objective. This means that it will be easier to file non-traditional trademarks, but, at the same time, does not seem changed the importance given to the representation of the trade mark, which plays a decisive role in ensuring the proper functioning of the entire system.