Where's the value in Europe?

We know what great value the CTM provides to European Union wide trade mark protection. But where do the other member states sit in comparison?

Clearly, IP Offices have operational costs and it is generally regarded that they should be self-funded by their official fees yet at the same time this unique European situation sees them competing with OHIM. (You could argue that the Secretary of State Trademark Departments are in competition with the USPTO in the United States, but I don't feel this is quite the same comparison.)

I will base a definition of "value" on a country's official fee and its population. The table below represents a one-class trade mark filing and it should not be surprising that the largest countries provide the best value with the eight most populated EU countries immediately following OHIM. Both Spain and Italy present excellent value in covering their national jurisdictions although value is relative when it comes to Italy given the length of time (a few years) it takes for an application to mature to registration.

Country	Official Fee (€)	Population	Price per million of population (€)
European Union	900	502672151	1.79
Spain	118	47150819	2.50
Italy	173.72	60397353	2.88
France	200	64709480	3.09
United Kingdom	205	62353795	3.29
Germany	300	81757595	3.67
Poland	279	38163895	7.31
Benelux	240	27906526	8.60
Romania	200	21466174	9.32
Portugal	116.61	10636979	10.96
Sweden	170	9347899	18.19
Czech Republic	200	10512397	19.03
Greece	216	11125179	19.42
Hungary	278	10013628	27.76
Slovakia	166	5424057	30.60
Finland	215	5350475	40.18
Lithuania	140	3329227	42.05
Austria	359	8372930	42.88
Bulgaria	328	7576751	43.29
Ireland	247	4467854	55.28
Denmark	317	5547088	57.15
Cyprus ᵅ	102.52	801851	127.85
Latvia	179	2248961	79.59
Slovenia	250	2054119	121.71
Estonia	185.33	1340274	138.28
Malta	116.47	416333	279.75

ᵅ excludes northern part of Cyprus

When it comes to applications in three classes, the picture changes a little. We make this comparison as some EU National Offices, like the OHIM, have a basic official fee including up to three classes.

Country	Official Fee (€)	Population	Price per million of population (€)
European Union	900	502672151	1.79
France	200	64709480	3.09
Germany	300	81757595	3.67
Italy	241.72	60397353	4.00
United Kingdom	325	62353795	5.21
Spain	270	47150819	5.73
Benelux	240	27906526	8.60
Poland	509	38163895	13.34
Romania	300	21466174	13.98
Portugal	177.45	10636979	16.68
Czech Republic	200	10512397	19.03
Greece	276	11125179	24.81
Hungary	278	10013628	27.76
Slovakia	166	5424057	30.60
Sweden	329	9347899	35.20
Finland	215	5350475	40.18
Austria	359	8372930	42.88
Bulgaria	328	7576751	43.29
Denmark	317	5547088	57.15
Lithuania	210	3329227	63.08
Ireland	417	4467854	93.33
Latvia	237	2248961	105.38
Slovenia	250	2054119	121.71
Estonia	274.79	1340274	205.03
Cyprus ᵅ	307.56	801851	383.56
Malta	349.41	416333	839.27

ᵅ excludes northern part of Cyprus

You may note that not all EU countries use the Euro so there has been some exchange rate conversions for some official fees. Please forgive any errors in my maths too! Some of the data sources I have used may contain inaccuracies.

The tables do not take into account professional fees which can vary although Europe is becoming fairly aligned. Please don't misconstrue this comment as there can, of course, be some large differences between firms but, generally speaking, they are not as wide as they could be considering this is a block of over 500 million people.

Austria, Denmark and Ireland are standouts for me in terms of being expensive especially with most agents being based in the respective capitals. As beautiful as Vienna, Copenhagen and Dublin are, none are particularly cheap and overheads can be high.

The same can be said for Paris and London, but France and the UK arguably offer some of the best value (outside of OHIM) because of the fair number of direct applicants. I cannot comment for the French INPI so much but the UK IPO is very geared towards assisting "Do-It-Yourself" applicants. Also whilst Paris and London are home to the majority of French and British IP firms, provincial firms are not insubstantial in number.

Foreign trade mark owners will continue to gravitate towards the Community Trade Mark but national routes will continue to offer a less expensive alternative for local applicants who maintain national client bases and who are yet to be able to exploit the Common Market.

However, as the CTM Register, in particular, becomes cluttered some trade mark owners may look to register in key national markets separately where opposition rates are far lower and whilst searching the EU is expensive and time-consuming. I am almost certain not every CTM owner has a comprehensive watch in place for all Trade Mark Registers in the EU.