Undeniably, the great budget surplus at the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) had sparked a great deal of discussion. Since when money is involved a great deal is usually
at stake, the Council, in 2007, considered it useful to emphasize the need for an overall assessment of the functioning of the trademark system.1 This assessment was carried out by the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property and Competition Law on behalf of the Commission.