Intellectual property - public consultation on EUIPO's mission
The public consultation for the evaluation of the activities of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) is open until 2 October 2018.
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The European Commission has launched a public consultation to collect the views of citizens and stakeholders on whether Regulation 386/2012 entrusting the EUIPO with new tasks has met its objective of facilitating and supporting the activities of national authorities, the private sector and EU institutions in the fight against infringements of intellectual property rights, in particular counterfeiting and piracy.
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European Union Intellectual Property Office
The European Union Intellectual Property Office was created in 1994 with the main task of administering the European Union trade mark system.
In 2012 the EUIPO was entrusted with an additional set of tasks - Regulation (EU) No 386/2012. Such tasks relate to the fight against infringements of intellectual property rights (such as patents, trademarks and copyright).
In broad terms, under the above mention Regulation 386/2012, the EUIPO was asked to:
- facilitate and support the activities of national authorities, the private sector and the EU institutions in the fight against infringements of the intellectual property rights through studies, surveys, events, development of tools, etc.;
- host, organise and chair a network of experts, authorities and stakeholders concerned by or most experienced in the fight against infringements of intellectual property rights. This network is called the ‘European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights’ (the Observatory). The EUIPO organises regular meetings of the Observatory to draw on the members’ expertise.
Six years have passed since Regulation No 386/2012 entered into force and it is now time to assess to what extent it contributed to enhance effective enforcement of intellectual property rights.
Public consultation
The purpose of this consultation is to collect your views on the relevance of the EUIPO’s mission, tasks and activities under Regulation No386/2012 and on how it has been performing them.
All citizens and organisations are welcome to contribute to this consultation, which is open until 2 October 2018. Contributions are particularly sought from businesses, SMEs and their associations; holders of intellectual property rights and respective associations; legal professionals in the area of intellectual property and respective associations; public prosecutors; police and custom officials; consumer associations and other non-governmental organisations.
On the basis of all the data gathered, including your views, the European Commission will adopt a report evaluating Regulation No 386/2012 and transmit it to the European Parliament, the Council and the European Economic and Social Committee. The report will also be made available to the public.
