In an increasingly globalised and diversified marketplace, the importance of brands is ever growing. At the end of the last century and the beginning of this century, intellectual property started to become truly European, first of all by harmonisation of national trademark and design laws and introduction of the first-ever trans-national trademark and design right, the Community trademark and the Community design. In the less than thirteen years of ECJ jurisprudence on issues of European trademark law, many traditional concepts have seen confirmation or - more frequently - modifications. Legal issues have arisen and continue to arise that, when the OHIM started operating in 1996, were not anticipated. The expansion of the European Union from 15 Member States in 1996 to currently 27 has triggered further discussion of pan-European trademark protection, its requirements and limitations. Concise European Trademark and Design Law aims to offer the reader a rapid understanding of the provisions of trademark and design law in force in Europe.