Thursday Tweaks

The IPKat has been contacted by a concerned reader, who is asking: "Has anyone else noticed that OHIM appears to be quietly abolishing the Community Trade Mark registration fee from 1st May 2009"?

If any of our readers require more information on the imminent Community trade mark fee changes, then the following links should clarify matters:

• An OHIM press release of 31 March 2009 can be retrieved here (PDF).
• A press release by the European Commission can be retrieved here.
• A speech by Commissioner Charlie McCreevy concerning the fee cuts can be accessed by clicking here. (PDF)

In the words of the OHIM, the main elements of the fee cut package are as follows:

"The fee system will be simplified with the registration fee set at zero. In addition to the new single fee of €900 for an electronically filed CTM, the fee for a CTM applied for by fax or paper goes down to €1050, and it will cost €870 for an application filed via the Madrid Protocol."

Please check the attached table (compiled by the OHIM) for detailed information on the transition regime and details of fee changes. Further information can also be found on the Class 46 weblog here.

The IPKat would like to add some comments to his earlier post "Kein Patent auf Schwein" about a mysterious notice concerning patent and pigs published on the EPO's website. As some of our readers have already pointed out, the EPO's notice has be to seen in a wider political context and in the light of an ongoing political debate in Germany on the issue of genetic engineering. This fact might explain why the EPO's notice was only available in German.

Ironically in Germany, pigs are symbols of good fortune and luck (right)

Earlier this week, German Federal Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner had already announced a ban on a strain of genetically modified maize sold by Monsanto (see the BBC's coverage here). Today, 16 April 2009, marks the deadline for filing a notice of opposition against patent EP 1651777 B1, which has been dubbed "Super Pig Patent" by the German media. Protesters decided to mark this date by organising demonstrations yesterday against this patent on the trait selection of pigs in Munich (where the EPO is based) and Wiesbaden. Interestingly enough, the 'pig patent' in question was originally filed in the name of Monsanto Technology LLC (the company selling the banned maize) but is now in the name of Newsham Choice Genetics, LLC.

To read more on this topic, please click here to read German IP blogger Alex Horns' view and here to read a summary of the issues at stake by German magazine Der Spiegel (in English).