Ohim Improvements

The OHIM makes a formal commitment to its users to maintain certain quality standards, particularly in terms of time, and to publish reports assessing performance. In 2003, the OHIM set out to remove the growing backlogs in CTM procedures. Organizational changes were laid out and implemented to achieve such goals and the results so far are satisfactory. In terms of Designs, the OHIM set out to publish designs for which there is no deficiency within 3 months of the filing of the application. In 2004, 50% of the designs were published in the CD Bulletin in 91 days or less and 80% in less than 108 days. The Office has created a “one examiner” system, meaning that one examiner only deals with a given file. This speeds up the process and increases efficiency. A new tool, called “Search reports online” is now available. It was launched in May 2004. Each search report contains a cover letter, a Community search report and national search reports.