The Integration of Trade Mark Laws in the European Union: Lessons for Africa?

• Pages: 109-130
• Citation: (2014) IPLJ 109
• Published date: 16 August 2019
• Date: 16 August 2019
• Author: Yeukai Mupangavanhu

THE INTEGR ATION OF TRADE

MARK LAWS IN THE EUROPEAN

UNION: LESSONS FOR AFRICA?



Lecturer, Faculty of L aw, University of the Western Cape

 

The attempt to integ rate trade mark laws in the European Un ion (EU) star ted

with the adoption of a Council Dir ective.1 This was after the realisation that

national trade ma rk laws contained disparities that m ight distort trade and

competition within t he single market.2 The Council Directive provided for

the harmonisat ion of the national trade mark laws of the Member States a nd

it sought to eliminate var iances between the laws of the Member States.3 It

was followed by the adoption of a Council Regulation4 which provided for

the grant of a Commun ity Trade Mark (CTM), conferring unitar y rights valid

throughout the EU.5 Thes e laws co-exist with nat ional laws.6

The article discuss es the process of integrating trade m ark laws followed in

the EU and draws some lessons th at could be useful in the integration of tra de

mark laws in Africa . The second part examines t he EU’s integration process.

    

Member States have, at national level, implemented these d irectives to ensure



mark laws through the CT M Regulation and the role of the European Court of

Justice (CJEU) in integr ating trade mark laws. Lastly, this par t analyses the

    

* LLB (UFH) LL M LLD (UWC).

1 89/10 4/EEC .

2 Directive (E EC) 89/104 of 21 December 1988. See al so E P Raciti ‘The harmoni sation of trade

marks in the Eu ropean commun ity: The harmon isation directive a nd the community t rade mark

(1996) 78 J Pat & Trade mark Off Soc’y 51 at 55 and E Sedwick ‘Trade ma rks and the European

economic com munity’ (2001) 12 J.Contemp. Legal Issues 437 at 438.

3 M A Leaffer ‘T he new world of internation al trade mark law’ (1998) 2 Marq Intell Prop L Re v 1

at 23; J A Tessensohn ‘May you live in int eresting times – E uropean trade m ark law in the wake

of Sabel BV v. Puma AG’ (1999) 6 J Intell PropL 217 at 222 and G B Dinwood ie ‘Europeanisat ion

of trade mark l aw’ Oxford Legal Studies Re search Paper Series No 54 /2013 at 11.

4 Regulat ion (EC) 40/94 of 20 December 1995.

       A Pract ical Approach to Trade Mark La w 4 ed (2010) 7; G Tritton

Intellectual Property in Europe 3 ed (2008) 262. See also Leaf fer (n3) 23; Sedwick (n2) 9;

Tessensohn (n3) 222; and Dinwood ie (n3) 11.

6 Par a [6] to the Preamble Council Reg ulation (EC) No 207/2009 of 26 Febr uary 2009 on the

Communit y Trade Mark, available at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/lexuriserv/lexuriserv.do?uri=

oj:l:2009:078:0001:0042:en:pdf (viewed on 26 August 2014).

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(2014) IPLJ 109

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each EU Member State is home to a dif ferent group of people,7 each striving

to retain its own cult ural identity.8 The third part dr aws some lessons from the

EU’s legal integration process. This par t examines the need to adopt a d irective

aimed at harmon ising trade mark laws in Afr ica as a starting point. It also

analyses the need for centra lising trade mark adm inistration by establishing

an organisation that ca n receive and process applications for trade mark

registration. Th is part also discusses the nee d to establish an independent

intellectual prope rty court that ca n interpret the harmon ised trade mark laws

uniformly and con sistently. The last part is a conclusion. For the purposes

of this article, legal integr ation comprises of both the harmonis ation and the



  

2.1 Harmonisation through the trade mark d irectives

The First Council Trade Mark Di rective 89/104, which was passed in 1988

to approximate the laws of Member States r elating to trade marks, was late r

repealed by Trade Mark Direct ive (TMD) 2008/95/EC.9 The TMD was the

            10 It

covered all trade mark s registered in any Member State.11 The TMD wa s

designed to pave the way for the introduction of the CT M.12 Its purpose wa s

   

movement of goods and services.13 It was also aimed at promoti ng competition

within the common m arket.14 Accordingly, the TMD was aimed at protecting

signs capable of distinguish ing products and services and for promoting t rade

and competition.15

7 V O’Reilly ‘Curr ent development: The commu nity trade mark sy stem: A brief introduc tion and

overview’ (2004) 8 Marq In tell Prop L Rev at 93 and J N Land ‘Global i ntellectual prop erty

protection as v iewed through the Eur opean community’s tre atment of geographical i ndications:

What lessons c an TRIPS lear n?’ (2003) 11 Cardozo J Int’ l & Comp L 1007.

     

Union and the Af rican Union’ (2004) 19 SA Public Law 351 at 361.

9 Council Dir ective 89/104 to approximate the laws of the m ember states relating t o trade marks

1988 OJ (L40) 1. See also Tessensohn (n3) 222.

10 See also E J W Mellor, D Llewelyn , D T Keeling et al Kerly’s Law of Trade marks and Trade

Names 15 ed (2011) 14; L Duran ‘The n ew European Union tra de mark law’ (1994) 23 Den J

Int’L&Pol’y 490; Sedwick (n2) 438; L A Askew ‘The E CJ, the ICJ and intellectua l property: Is

harmonis ation the key?’ (1999) 7 Tulsa J Comp & Int’l L 375 at 392.

11 It moder nised and harmonise d the trade mark laws of the Memb er States: BR Rutherford ‘The

Trade Marks Act in it s internatio nal context’ in C J Visse r (ed) The New Law of Trade Marks a nd

Designs (1995) 1 and Sedwi ck (n2) 438.

12 Mellor, Llewelyn et al (n10) 14.

13 Recital 2 of the Trade M ark Directive 2008/95/EC of t he European Parliament a nd the Council

of 22 October 2008 t o approximate the laws of t he Member States relati ng to trade mark s (2008)

OJ. (L 299/25). Raciti (n2) 55 and Tessensoh n (n3) 222.

14 Recital 2 of th e Trade Mark Directive 2008/ 95/EC of the European Parlia ment and the Council

of 22 October 2008 t o approximate the laws of t he Member States relati ng to trade mark s (2008)

OJ. (L 299/25). See also Bjorne kulla Fruktind ustrier v Procord ia Food Case C-371/02.

15 Y Mupangavanhu The Re gional integratio n of trade mark laws: Challen ges and Possibilities

(unpublished LLD th esis, University of the Wester n Cape 2013) 263.

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