What is a trade mark?
A trade mark is a word, phrase or symbol, or a combination of words, phrases, symbols or figurative elements, that identifies and distinguishes the goods or services of one company from those of another. Organisations ranging from SMEs to huge multinationals use trade marks registration systems to protect their brands.
What is a trade mark registration system?
If you need trade mark protection you have the choice of registering with national, regional, or international trade mark offices. These trade mark registration systems all provide legal protection for your trade mark which is limited to the territories in which they operate. An organisation that needs to do business in just one or two countries may choose to obtain protection by applying separately to the appropriate official trade mark offices. Within Europe, wider geographical coverage (27 Member States) is also available with a single application at the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market of the European Union (OHIM). If your home country is a member of the "Madrid Protocol" or the “Madrid Agreement”, you may also register your trade mark before the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), which can extend your trade mark protection to up to 70 countries. These different alternatives mean that you should be able to choose an option for legally protecting your trade mark that fits your business needs.
What is the story behind TMview?
Companies work differently and have different needs. Many of them work locally, regionally and nationally. Others have international or global business needs. Logically they seek for different way to protect their trade marks. Depending on the most appropriate type of protection trade mark protection and registration can be granted through official trade mark Offices at national, international or European Community level. All these trade marks coexist and complement each other. Businesses can consult all trade mark data by accessing individually the websites of the different official trade mark Offices. Each time they are confronted with a different layout, different languages, they may even be asked to pay for this consultation service.
This is where TMview comes in. For the first time an all-in-one TM search tool is available covering data from all the participating official trade mark Offices free of charge. The information can be found in all languages used in the different participating Offices.
From its launch this trade mark information resource will provide data from the official trade mark Offices listed on the Home page.
Although this data is accessible via a centralized system each Office remains the owner of the data and continues to be responsible for its updating and maintenance.
TMview is in constant evolution: it aims to be the platform for data from all 27 EU Member States in addition to the information available from OHIM and WIPO – in total some 8,5 Million trade marks.
What can TMview do for you?
TMview is an online consultation tool allowing any Internet user to search, free of charge, the trade marks of all participating official trade mark Offices. It is multilingual and easy-to-use, and gives access to trade mark applications and registrations of the participating official trade mark offices in a single place.
The information is provided by the trade mark offices that own the content and are responsible for its daily update.
You can use TMview to:
• Carry out a trade mark search
• Check for the availability of your trade mark name
• Discover what your competitors are protecting
• Provide information to trade mark examiners:
According to some legislations trade mark applicants are not required to file priority or seniority documentation whenever these are available on the Websites of the respective National Offices. TMview may thus also be used as a working tool for trade mark examiners who may access documents on the website.
What is in TMview?
The accuracy of the data contained in TMview is the sole responsibility of the participating official trade mark Offices or organization providing it. Thus, in principle, TMview reflects with certainty the trade mark registers of the participating Offices or Organizations at the moment of consultation.
• Gateway to 5 Million trade mark applications and registrations in its first release
• Details on trade marks such as legal status, image, list of goods and services, etc.
• Link to national database
• Possibility to print and download documents
• First hand information from the official trade mark registers
Getting the most out of TMview
One single tool and…
• all in one: all TMs - national, regional, international - are visible
• all languages available: upon integration of new data into TMview from a new official trade mark office or organization the respective language(s) will be made available
• all official trade mark offices accessible: upon integration of a new official trade mark office or organization there will be a direct link to this office and its data
• 24/7 availability
• broad search results
• daily up-dated information
• free of charge