Trade Marks Directive (2015)
Print this pageDirective (EU) 2015/2436 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2015 to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to trade marks (Text with EEA relevance)
Chapter 1 - General Provisions
Chapter 2 - Substantive Law on Trade Marks
Section 1 - Signs of which a trade mark may consist
Article 3 - Signs of which a trade mark may consist
Section 2 - Grounds for refusal or invalidity
Article 4 - Absolute grounds for refusal or invalidity
Article 5 - Relative grounds for refusal or invalidity
Article 6 - Establishment a posteriori of invalidity or revocation of a trade mark
Article 7 - Grounds for refusal or invalidity relating to only some of the goods or services
Article 9 - Preclusion of a declaration of invalidity due to acquiescence
Section 3 - Rights conferred and limitations
Article 10 - Rights conferred by a trade mark
Article 12 - Reproduction of trade marks in dictionaries
Article 14 - Limitation of the effects of a trade mark
Article 15 - Exhaustion of the rights conferred by a trade mark
Article 16 - Use of trade marks
Article 17 - Non-use as defence in infringement proceedings
Section 4 - Revocation of trade mark rights
Article 19 - Absence of genuine use as ground for revocation
Article 20 - Trade mark having become generic or misleading indication as grounds for revocation
Article 21 - Revocation relating to only some of the goods or services
Section 5 - Trade marks as objects of property
Article 22 - Transfer of registered trade marks
Article 24 - Levy of execution
Article 26 - Applications for a trade mark as an object of property
Section 6 - Guarantee or certification marks and collective marks
Article 28 - Guarantee or certification marks
Article 30 - Regulations governing use of a collective mark
Article 31 - Refusal of an application
Article 32 - Use of collective marks
Article 33 - Amendments to the regulations governing use of a collective mark
Article 34 - Persons entitled to bring an action for infringement
Article 35 - Additional grounds for revocation
Article 36 - Additional grounds for invalidity
Chapter 3 - Procedures
Section 1 - Application and registration
Article 37 - Application requirements
Article 39 - Designation and classification of goods and services
Article 40 - Observations by third parties
Article 41 - Division of applications and registrations
Section 2 - Procedures for opposition, revocation and invalidity
Article 43 - Opposition procedure
Article 44 - Non-use as defence in opposition proceedings
Article 45 - Procedure for revocation or declaration of invalidity
Article 46 - Non-use as a defence in proceedings seeking a declaration of invalidity
Article 47 - Consequences of revocation and invalidity
Section 3 - Duration and renewal of registration
Article 48 - Duration of registration
Section 4 - Communication with the office
Article 50 - Communication with the office
Chapter 4 - Administrative Cooperation
Article 51 - Cooperation in the area of trade mark registration and administration
Article 52 - Cooperation in other areas
Chapter 5 - Final Provisions
Text in force at 01-01-2020. The text can be verified at Eur-lex.