A Critical Evaluation of Whether the Present Currently Pending Reforms to the 'Trade Marks Directive' and 'Community Trade Mark Regulation' Will Do Little in Improving the Position of the 'Difficulties' Embedded in the Law of Registered Trademark Infringement in the EU

Abstract

It is no doubt that the law on ‘Trademark infringement’ in the European Union is not only clumsy – thereby making issues surrounding it incoherent; it is also not in-tune with time. The European Commission perceived this and it sure explains the instigation of the ‘move’ to recast the Directive on Trademark (hereinafter referred to as TMD) and revise the Regulation (hereinafter referred to as CTMR). The problem is: the pending collective reforms will do little or almost nothing in clarifying the difficulties ‘trademark infringement’ is clustered with. This paper traces some of the ‘difficulties’ the pending reform should have addressed and clarify once and for all; so as to ‘save’ the ECJ of the various criticisms it receives on its ruling on modern issues. Also, to relieve the CJEU of the role of de facto legislator at the cutting edge of trade mark infringement cases, by incorporating decisions of the courts and views of writers on the alarming issues. However, it seems the pending reforms will not do this. While agreeing that the pending reform will do ‘little’ to alleviate the difficulties; there are still other aspects that need improvements.