Annual Technical Report on Industrial Design Information Activities in 2023 submitted by EUIPO

Please provide links to your website where the requested information can be found in English, French, or Spanish.  Alternately, you may provide text responses instead of URLs if desired.  If the information is not available on your website in an ATR language, then please provide text.

URLs in responses should meet the following requirements:

The term "industrial designs" covers industrial designs and models.

Offices which issue design patents should report their design patent information activities in this series of Annual Technical Reports.

I. GENERAL OVERVIEW OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE

Information on the following topics is desired:

• Outline of main policies and plans aimed at development of trade mark and design information activities and expected time frames for their realization 

A comprehensive overview of the EUIPO main policies and plans can be found on the EUIPO ONLINE website, which can be found at:

https://euipo.europa.eu/ohimportal/en/web/guest/about-euipo

• New projects launched or resumed this year in the context of the policies and plans mentioned above, short description:  aims, partners, tasks.

The EUIPO has a Strategic Plan that is prepared every five years that includes a comprehensive set of Programmes and Projects to be delivered. The current Strategic Plan (SP 2025) runs until the end of 2024. The SP 2025 is split into three strategic drivers that covers the following areas:

• IPnetwork – strategic drive 01

Our cooperation goals: our networks; our international activities; our work with enforcement authorities and other partners; and our global reach.

• IPexcellence – strategic drive 02

Advanced customer-centric services for all our users, especially SMEs. Effective and simplified working practices. Increasing added value to businesses.

• IPinnovation – strategic drive 03

Continuous learning and sustainable staff engagement. Evolving with the digital era. Moving towards the future sustainable workplace.

For more information on the SP2025, please go to the following link:

https://euipo.europa.eu/ohimportal/en/web/guest/strategic-drivers

• Main areas of trade mark and design information activities and related information and communication technology (ICT) practices which were in the focus of attention last year  

The titles of the most important ICT services under development as part of the SP2025 include the following projects:

• Enhancing IP protection on e-commerce marketplaces
• Anti-Counterfeiting Blockathon Infrastructure
• SME programme: SME (Small and medium sized enterprises) Website
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
• New trade mark efiling form both for novices and experts
• Trade mark pre-assessment tools
• Blockchain IP register
• Artificial Intelligence implementation
• Integration and expansion of IT security
• Modernised EUIPO Online Platform

Please refer to SP2025 for further information.

• Statistics:  changes in terms of application filings and registrations with respect to previous year; trends or areas experiencing rapid changes  

Please find below the links to the most important sources of information with respect to statistics in both the trade mark and design area:

• The Annual report

https://euipo.europa.eu/ohimportal/en/web/guest/annual-report

• The Work Programme

https://euipo.europa.eu/ohimportal/en/web/guest/work-programme

Broader statistics on trade mark and design activities can be found at the following link,

https://euipo.europa.eu/ohimportal/en/web/guest/transparency-portal

This includes the following useful information:

• The EUIPO Trade Mark Focus Report (2010-2017 Evolution)
• The EUIPO Design Focus Report (2010-2019 Evolution)
• The Alicante News – our newsletter

Additionally, in the following link (https://www.euipo.europa.eu/en/the-office/about-us/what-we-do/statistics) there is a section with statistical reports on the EU trade mark (EUTM) and registered designs at EU level (RCD), giving general information on the total number of applications and registrations, including details per country or territory, per class of goods and services, and top filers.

II. SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE

Information on the following topics is desired:

• Information and support provided by the Office to applicants regarding filing on paper and/or e-filing (instructions, seminars, etc.) – URLs

• https://euipo.europa.eu/ohimportal/en/web/guest/trade-marks
• https://euipo.europa.eu/ohimportal/en/web/guest/trade-marks

• Availability of the application dossier in electronic form

Trade marks: https://euipo.europa.eu/ohimportal/en/web/guest/apply-now

Designs: https://euipo.europa.eu/ohimportal/en/web/guest/rcd-apply-now

• Matters concerning classifying        

• Information on our practices in respect to Goods and Services:

https://euipo.europa.eu/ohimportal/en/web/guest/goods-and-services

• Information on our practices in respect to Indication of Product:

https://euipo.europa.eu/ohimportal/en/web/guest/the-design-and-its-products

• Use of electronic classification systems and pre-defined terms of the classification applied

• TMclass

The one-stop classification gateway to the Harmonised Database applied in the EU and other offices worldwide.

http://tmclass.tmdn.org/ec2/

• Similarity

Assessment of the similarity between goods and services by IP Offices in the EU.

http://euipo.europa.eu/sim/

• DesignClass

Compare the design classification databases of the participating offices.

https://euipo.europa.eu/designclass/

• Matters concerning processing of different types of non-traditional marks (e.g., three-dimensional, motion, hologram, color mark, etc.)

• Please find further information on all types of EU trade marks here:

https://euipo.europa.eu/ohimportal/en/web/guest/what-can-be-an-eu-trade-mark

III. SOURCES OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE OFFICE

Information on the following topics is desired:

• Main types of publications in the field of trade mark and designs information, outline of the content and medium (on paper, on CDs, online – URLs)

eSearch Plus - Search trade marks, designs, owners, representatives, Bulletins and Office decisions in one single application

https://euipo.europa.eu/eSearch/

• Official Gazettes: main types of announcements, frequency of publication, medium (on paper, on CDs, online (URL), etc.

Also available via eSearch Plus

• Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) available to examiners, including external documentation and databases

Also available via eSearch Plus

• Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) and services available to external users; conditions of access (e.g., free of charge, subscription, etc.)

Also available via eSearch Plus

• Legal status information (kind of information, coverage, medium, etc.)

Also available via eSearch Plus

IV. ICT SUPPORT TO SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE

Information on the following topics is desired:

• Specific software tools supporting business procedures within the Office:  general description, characteristics, advantages, possible improvements

The EUIPO is using specific software tools tailored to their specific business processes. A series of tools allows the complete electronic management of the full process of EU trade marks and designs from:

• Electronic filings available on the EUIPO portal (https://www.euipo.europa.eu/en/trade-marks/how-to-apply/apply-now)
• Complete examination process for EUIPO examiners using the internally developed IPTool software (EUTM examination, opposition, registration, cancellation, recordals; EU design examination, registration, invalidity; Appeals)
• Register of EU trade marks and designs available via the online IP Register in the EUIPO website.

The EUIPO is using commercial off-the shelf tools for supporting business processes such as finance and HR management, for instance. In this particular business areas, the EUIPO is using SAP solutions.

• Hardware used to support business processes of the Office

The EUIPO has 2 Tier 4 data centres to host their applications. These two data centres allow load balancing and disaster recovery.

Currently EUIPO is also exploring the capabilities proposed by the cloud, migrating little by little, some IT application in a controlled way.

All EUIPO staff work with laptops, allowing them to be able to work from anywhere. These laptops are running with Microsoft Windows, the Office 365 suite (authorized software only based on data protection rules).

• Internal databases:  coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources
• Establishment and maintenance of electronic search file:  file building, updating, storage, documents from other offices included in the search file

The EUIPO use for themselves and also propose to the general public via their web site (https://euipo.europa.eu/) a series of on-line tools to perform searches on various databases on IP related matters:

• “eSearch plus” - Trade marks, designs, owners, representatives, and bulletins  
• eSearch Case Law - EU and national case law
• TMview - Trade marks in the European Union and beyond
  • DesignView - Designs in the European Union and beyond
  • GIview - Geographical indications in the European Union and beyond

The underlying databases are built by the EUIPO and all other IP offices that officially agree to share the information and make it available.

• Administrative management electronic systems (register, legal status, statistics, and administrative support)
• Other matters 

V. PROMOTION ACTIVITIES AIMED TO SUPPORT USERS IN ACCESS AND EFFICIENT USE OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION

Information on the following topics is desired:

• Office’s library (if deals with industrial design information): equipment, collection management, network of libraries in the country, cooperation with foreign libraries

The EUIPO Library consists of a physical facility on EUIPO premises, which includes 6 workstations, a consultation area and reception. This library also has a digital library catalogue known as the Knowledge Hub. The library is in principle for internal EUIPO staff; however, it does open its doors upon request for IP university students. In 2023 the Academy held the second International Library Day in the Wubbo de Boer Interactive Centre.

The library holds 23 379 items, both physical and electronic of which 4 555 are IP books; 9 198 are IP bulletins, journals and reviews; 435 WIPO publications; 6 IP databases; 139 EUIPO publications and 85 IP related works and dissertations of EUIPO Trainees. The EUIPO Library is a member of EUROLIB, the European Community and Associated Institutions Library Co-operation Group.

• Publications related to different business procedures and industrial design information sources available to users, for example, books, brochures, Internet publications, etc.

Check on EUIPO ONLINE.

• Cooperation with universities, technology, and innovation support centers, etc.

Academic Initiatives

Pan-European Seal Programme

In the 2023 the Pan-European Seal Programme (PES) reached 138 partner universities from 27 EU countries and 11 EPC member states. Approximately 90 high-achieving graduates benefited from a year-long, paid traineeship at the EUIPO in 2023 through the PES programme. Together with the Young Professionals programme, a total of 109 trainees were welcomed at the EUIPO.

During this traineeship, in addition to the on-the-job training professional experience gained at the EUIPO, trainees were invited to attend several major events:

• EUIPO Trainees Orientation Programme (ETOP);
• IP Intensive Module (open to all PES Universities as well);
• IP Campus event was held in April 2023. Trainees, EUIPO Staff, EPO, NIPOs, PES Universities, PES Alumni, and Talent Bank Associated Partners were invited to participate, with a total of 291 participants in total;
• EUIPO Trainees’ Career Event, where different career paths and future career prospects were presented by the PES Alumni and the Talent Bank Associated Partners.

For 2024, the EUIPO Academy would like to explore the possibility of cooperating more with WIPO in the various academic initiatives mentioned below (e.g. Exchange programme with WIPO as well, to continue last year’s IP Intensive Programme etc.) especially taking into consideration the expansion of the PES programme in Q1 2024 to Universities outside the EU and the EPC members states (namely Tanzania, Moldova and Georgia).

Post-traineeship professional opportunities:

Exchange Programme

It allows PES trainees that are currently working at the EUIPO to apply for an exchange opportunity and second traineeship at the European Patent Office (EPO), and for the EPO Pan-European Seal trainees to apply for an exchange traineeship at the EUIPO. Since the inception of the progrmame and until October 2023 in total 52 EPO trainees have been welcomed at the EUIPO and 94 EUIPO trainees at the EPO respectively creating a strong collaboration between the 2 Offices and disseminate IP and its awareness among youngsters.

Hosting Programme

EUIPO trainees are given the opportunity to extend their traineeship by participating in the hosting programme in which they will be hosted by a national IP office (from 3 to 6 months). During the hosting programme, they will experience different working contexts (SME programme, European Cooperation projects, etc.). In October 2023, 5 trainees participating in the hosting programme with the relevant national offices on board (Croatia, Spain, Slovenia, Greece and Slovakia).

Talent Bank

This is an online platform that allows public and private partners, including law and consultancy firms, companies, EU and international organisations, national institutions, and universities to offer traineeships and/or jobs to the EUIPO Trainees alumni  seeking further career opportunities following their traineeship at the EUIPO. In 2023, the total number of associated partners reached 27, and more than 60 job offers have been published in the tool since its inception.

Additional activities within the Network of Intellectual Property Academies (NIPA)

NIPA Annual meeting

The Network of IP Academies (NIPA) consists of the PES university members, the Talent Bank Associate Partners and the national IP offices. EU institutions and European university networks can also join as observers. NIPA members meet once a year to discuss an overview of the year that has passed, the traineeship programme, improvements and additional synergies that can occur between them  via common projects with the EUIPO. The idea is that this event takes place after newly adopted EUIPO projects are communicated and shared with NIPA members. The Annual meeting was held on 30 November – 1 December 2023 in an online format with around 102 participants with very positive feedback.

Academic research programme

This is a grant offered to any university, researcher, PhD candidate, professor, etc. who would like to prepare a research paper for a maximum period of 12 months. 80 % of this will be funded by the EUIPO, and it can be on a variety of topics related to EUIPO practice.

In 2023 the first edition was finalized, with the final workshop organized in June 2023 and three (3) researchers presenting their final research papers:

• University of Groningen: “Impact based indicators of the importance of IP protection mechanisms for SME”;
• Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam: “Trademarks and design rights – to what extent do they relate to and measure innovation?
• Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI: “The use of the EUIPO trademark system by SME - motives structures and future developments”

In 2023 the new edition of the Academy Research Programme was launched with one research proposal selected to receive the grant for the edition 2023/2024:

• University of Vigo: Exploiting Semantics and Deep Learning to Provide Intelligence to the Syntactic Search Engine for Help & FAQs on the EUIPO Website Thanks to a Transformer Model Fine-Tuned on Custom Datasets
• Education and training:  training courses, e learning modules (URLs), seminars, exhibitions, etc.

Almost 35 000 participants attended any of the multiple training events organized by the EUIPO Academy in 2023 or completed courses in the Academy Learning Portal, with an approval rate of 89%.

Major IP and non-IP events

• The second edition of the IP Intensive Programme offered for free to all the PES Universities’ students and the EU National IP Offices, in collaboration with WIPO, EPO, CPVO, European Commission DG AGRI, and DG RTD, lasted 10 days including sessions on trade marks, designs, plant varieties, geographical indications and patents with  more than 1 500 registered participants and with an average of 500 connections per session.
• The IP Regional Seminar held in May was organised in Vienna (AT) in hybrid modality.  The event was focused on the new virtual environment and covered topics such as the Metaverse and IP, Brand protection, Virtual goods, NFTs, and AI in the IPOs.  For the first time, the invitation to an IP Regional Seminar was extended to representatives from the local Pan European Seal (PES) universities. 110 participants attended the event which received a 91% of satisfaction rating.
• For the first time since 2019, the Focal Point meeting was held on-site. The presentation of the workshop’s outcomes and of the ‘Supporting Trainers for Effective Performance’ (STEP) project were also accessible online. The event received a 92% of satisfaction rating.
• The IP Seminar on Designs: ‘The future is now’ was held totally online on June. Effective enforcement measures, case studies, design promotion initiatives and the history of EU design protection were some of the many topics addressed during the event which was followed by 244 participants and received a 95% of satisfaction rating.
• The IP Campus 2023 event was held in hybrid modality in April. Trainees, EUIPO Staff, EPO, NIPOs, PES Universities, PES Alumni, and Talent Bank Associated Partners were invited to participate, with a total of around 300 participants.
• The EUIPO Trainees’ Career Event 2023, took place fully online where different career paths and future career prospects were presented with more than 50 speakers by former PES Trainees (PES Alumni) representing their current employers (e.g. Law firms, companies, EU Institutions, International Organisations etc.). At the same event, the trainees are introduced to the Talent Bank tool and the Talent Bank Associated Partners are also presenting and introducing their Offices.
• The 20^th edition of the INTA Industry Day was organised online in October. The event which topic was ‘IP and the Cannabis Industry,’ highlighted the current issues and developments regarding IP protection of this product and its derivatives in the EU, Canada and the USA. 143 participants attended the event which reached 94% satisfaction rate.
• Tuesday IP webinars have improved the IP knowledge of SMEs – EUIPO’s customers – by making the EUIPO’s decisions more accessible and predictable. The Academy has led this by developing and sharing its pedagogical expertise, and by optimising the marketing of webinars.
• A total of 30 webinars were organised. In addition, the first edition of the Cineforum webinar “When reality enters the fiction” was a success, attracting 659 participants in July, with a 90.3% overall satisfaction rate.
• The average participation on webinars significantly increased from 475 participants in 2022 to 685 in 2023, with a general satisfaction of 89.3%.
• The most relevant webinar was “Power your business with the new edition of the SME Fund!”, with 1 809 external participants.
• The Academy has also offered masterclasses on soft skills, open to staff from the EUIPO and national offices and which have contributed to developing a common approach to these types of skills. In our masterclasses, an expert delivers a theory session (in webinar format), followed by a practical and personalised session.
• The Academy has collaborated with CD and OD through the Academy Knowledge Circle to improve the impact of webinars and to offer the webinar subtitled in the 5 working languages of the Office in the ALP. This initiative has aimed to increase users' knowledge on procedural aspects.

School and University visits

• A total of 10 virtual school visits (over 400 students attending) were organised, with an average satisfaction rate of 92%. The IP mystery game in EN/ES for 12-14 and 15-17 years old was launched.
• As for the Virtual University Visits, 48 Universities, participated in the 8 visits organized between January and December 2023. These sessions were attended by a total of 438 students and obtained an overall satisfaction rate of 90%.

Education Programmes

• The ETMD EP for Practitioners 2023/2024 programme (5^th edition) opened in October 2023 and was fully booked (60 participants). The programme will run until June 2024, including e-learning and 21 IP labs consisting of practical activities.
• The ETMD EP for Paralegals 2023/2024 (4^th edition): 60 external participants coming from 19 EU Member States and 5 EUIPO staff.
• The ETMD EP for Paralegals 2022/2023 (2^nd edition), was fully booked before the end of the application period, and it started with 72 participants coming from 24 countries. It concluded in March 2023. The 3^rd edition (2023/2024) includes 65 participants from 19 countries.
• The project dedicated to Continuous Professional Development (CPD) was accepted in 2021 and started in December 2021 with a letter of the ED sent to all national IP Offices and all User Associations (UA). The final report has been drafted and has been discussed internally.
• In cooperation with CD, a new Learning Wallet (LW) on Geographical Indications was drafted and added to the four IP topics: Basics on IP; Intermediate on IP; Design; Absolute Grounds which were drafted for the seminars organised with the “European Institute of Innovation and Technology” (EIT, A body of the European Commission). The LW on IP matters are available in the EUIPO website for everyone.
• e-Learning content in the EUIPO Academy Learning Portal

There were over 279 000 visits to the EUIPO Academy Learning Portal in 2023. Portal visitors benefited of 1 3568 online courses, 793 of which provide a certificate. Relevant online content continued to be made available to the public in 2023.

VI.INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN INFORMATION

Information on the following topics is desired:

• International exchange of industrial design and TM information in machine-readable form (e.g., Official Gazettes)

The EUIPO currently provides data though web-based tools, both in human readable way as well as bulk download of files and certain APIs for enterprises. TMview and DSview collect trade marks and designs from participating offices in ST66, ST86 and ST96 formats. The EUIPO is engaged with the Committee of WIPO Standards (CWS) and its task forces and participates in the development and application of standards for IP Offices to exchange data in automated, machine-readable ways, including APIs.

The EUIPO uses WIPO's Madrid electronic communication system (MECA) for the exchange of data and documents in electronic format (XML).

• Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to TM and industrial design information

The  EU Intellectual Property Network – EUIPN (EUIPN) has created and developed projects related to trade mark and design. Each project is supported by a working group, comprising EU, national and regional IP office experts, users, and, where relevant, experts from international organisations. Since its inception, the EUIPN has continuously sought to advance 2 key areas:

• Public and restricted online tools to support examiners, businesses and the enforcement community. These provide a wealth of information on trade mark, design and classification issues.
• European IP system: created in order to make the examination process for trade marks and designs more efficient for IP offices and stakeholders. These common practices and standards are based on Court decisions and IP Offices best practices.

In addition to these advancements, special attention is also being given to assist small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), through the EUIPO SME Fund and the new ECP6 - ‘Supporting SMEs’. Additionally, almost all tools, guidelines, documentation and training courses are available on the EUIPN portal.

International Cooperation activities at EUIPO take distinct forms, through bilateral cooperation with IP offices in third countries, with regional and international organisations (including WIPO and EPO), as well as the Trade Mark Five (TM5) and the Industrial Design Five (ID5) ; and the implementation of international IP projects co-funded by the European Commission.

In this field, the EUIPO works in close cooperation with the European Commission to support the implementation of EU policies, promoting robust intellectual property systems outside the EU. The EUIPO is currently implementing 8 EU-funded projects outside Europe. The projects are IP Key China III, IP Key Latin America II, IP Key South-East Asia II, IP4EU, AfrIPI, AL-INVEST Verde IPR and  EU-RoK IP Action.

• Assistance to developing countries

In addition to the EU-funded IP projects, the EUIPO provides assistance to developing countries through its cooperation framework (MoU), which includes sharing the European Union Intellectual Property Network (EUIPN) and Office’s tools, standards and practices to non-EU-countries.

The EUIPO actively cooperates with international partners including developing countries to:

• Provide technical assistance to digitalize registries and provide access to information on trade marks and designs, as well as classification tools, such as: TMview, DesignView, TMclass, Harmonised Database and DesignClass.
• Capacity building of a wide range of stakeholders from IP Offices, enforcement entities, business support organizations, SMEs, producer groups of origin-linked products, control bodies and civil society.
• Promote IP education in schools and higher education sectors.
• Provide information and support to small and medium sized businesses.
• Raise the awareness of specific stakeholder groups or society at large about the value of IP.
• Knowledge exchanges and staff exchanges.

VII. OTHER RELATED MATTERS

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