S.I. No. 9 of 2001 
Trade Marks Act, 1996 (Section 66) Regulations, 2001.  
I, Tom Kitt, Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, in 
exercise of the powers conferred on me by s ection 66 of the Trade Marks Act, 1996 ( No. 
6 of 1996 ) (as adapted by the Enterprise  and Employment (Alteration of Name of 
Department and Title of Minister) Orde r, 1997 ( S.I. No. 305 of 1997 ), and the 
Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Delegati on of Ministerial Functions) (No. 2) Order, 
1997 ( S.I. No. 330 of 1997 )), here by make the following regulations: 
1.     (1) These Regulations may be cite d as the Trade Marks Act, 1996 (Section 66) 
Regulations, 2001. 
(2) These Regulations shall come into operation on 29 January, 2001. 
2. In these Regulations - 
“Community Trade Mark Regulation” mean s Council Regulation (EC) No. 40/94 of 20 
December 1993 on the Community trade mark1 ; 
“Community Trade Mark Rules” means Co mmission Regulation (EC) No. 2868/95 of 13 
December 1995 implementing Council Regulation (EC) No. 40/94 on the Community 
trade mark2 . 
3. Where the Controller receiv es a notification under Rule 8(3) of the Community Trade 
Mark Rules pursuant to Article 34 of th e Community Trade Mark Regulation of a 
seniority claim based on an earlier registered trade mark, the Controller shall note the 
said seniority claim and such claim is hereby prescribed as a matter to be entered in the 
register. 
 GIVEN under my hand, 
 25 January, 2001  TOM KITT 
 Minister of State at the Department 
of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. 
EXPLANATORY NOTE  
(This note is not part of these Regulati ons and does not purport to be a legal 
interpretation) 
The purpose of these Regulations is to enable  certain details regard ing the seniority of 
Community trade marks to be recorded  in the Register of Trade Marks. Community trade marks are valid in all EU Member States. They are registered by the 
Office of Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM) ba sed in Alicante, Spain. In 
some cases, a trade mark has already been registered in an EU member State when an 
application for a Community trade mark is fi led. In such cases there is provision under 
the Community Trade Mark Regulation for a cl aim to be made for the Community trade 
mark to assume the rights of the earlier nationa l trade mark with effect from the date of 
national registration. This is known as “seniority”. 
Seniority may be claimed in connection with a Community trade mark application at the 
time of, or within two mont hs of, the filing date of the application. OHIM notifies 
national Patents Offices of such  seniority claims. These Regulat ions provide, in the case 
of seniority in respect of earli er Irish trade marks, for the C ontroller of Patents, Designs 
and Trade Marks to record such claims in th e Register of Trade Marks. This provision 
will enable any person to know, by inspecting th e Register of Trade Marks, whether the 
seniority of an earlier Irish trade mark has been claimed in a particular Community trade 
mark application. 
If a trade mark holder fails to claim seniority within 2 months of submitting an 
application for a Community trade mark, there is a further opportunity  to claim seniority 
but only after the mark has been registered. Pr ovision to record seniority claims in these 
circumstances has already been made in a Regulation last year (Trade Marks Act, 1996 
(Community Trade Mark) Regulatio ns, 2000 ( S.I. No. 229 of 2000 )). 
Published by the Stationery Office, Dublin, 2. 
1 OJ No. L11, 14.1.94, p.1. 
2 OJ No. L303, 15.12.95, p.1.