IPKat reader Alfred Strahlberg of Strahlberg & Partners, Switzerland,
points to an interesting statistic: roughly 17% of all CTMs filed
directly with the OHIM are opposed (see table above, click on it to
enlarge - I know it's impossible to read). However, CTMs filed using
the Madrid System - i.e. international marks seeking extension to the
EU - are only opposed in about 8% of all cases (see table below).

The difference is quite large and definitely not due to chance. The
IPKat thinks that one reason why "IR CTMs" are opposed less often is
that the opponent may oppose the base registration instead and kill the
IR mark once and for all ("central attack"). Only when that was not
possible or seems unadvisable (home turf advantage for the registrant?)
would he or she chose to oppose before the OHIM. This would mean that
the combined rate of opposition - base registration and before OHIM -
should be about the same for international marks as for directly filed
CTMs; the IPKat lacks the empirical data to back this up, though (in
Switzerland, roughly 5% of all national registrations were opposed in
2008; adding this figure to the 8% opposition rate for "IR CTMs" one
arrives at a combined opposition rate of about 13% - still not quite
18%, but getting closer).

Do the IPKat readers have other explanations for the difference in
opposition rates?

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Posted By Mark Schweizer to The IPKat - for IP in a changing world on
11/03/2009 11:26:00 AM