Design

International filings for patents, trade marks and industrial designs under World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)-administered intellectual property (IP) systems saw continued strong growth in 2012.

In 2012, international patent applications filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) grew by 6.6% on 2011. Japan and the United States of America (US) accounted for 48.8% of the 194,400 PCT applications filed in 2012.

International trade mark applications filed under the Madrid system grew by 4.1% in 2012. France, Germany and the US accounted for 36.5% of the 44,018 Madrid applications filed in 2012.

International industrial design applications filed under the Hague system grew by 3.3% on 2011. The 2,604 applications filed in 2012 contained 12,454 individual designs, representing 3.5% growth over 2011. France, Germany and Switzerland accounted for 62.8% of total designs.

“As in previous years, demand for WIPO’s international IP filing systems increased despite a weak economic climate,” said WIPO Director General Francis Gurry. “As we begin to see signs of a recovery, those companies that built strong portfolios of intangible assets during the downturn will benefit the most from new market opportunities.”

For more information and to access full data, please click here.

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The European Trade Mark and Design Network brings together the Office of Harmonization for the Internal Market (OHIM) and National Intellectual Property Offices in the EU member states, aiming at providing up to date electronic services, facilitating access to information and converging practice in the way offices examine, evaluate and enforce protection in the fields of trade mark and design.

In the European Trade Mark and Design Network website you will find free tools developed by the different IP offices and user representatives, as well as information to assist you find your way to the relevant national or regional offices. If you are looking for e-learning tools addressing SMEs needs, the European Trade Mark and Design Network is also the right place for you.

Which tools are available?

• TMview to search for a term or a trade mark among national offices within the European Union, as well as OHIM and WIPO;
• Euroclassto facilitate the process of classifying goods and services;
• Designview to search for a design among national offices within the European Union, as well as in OHIM;
• Similarity to assess whether determined goods and services are considered similar or dissimilar among the participating national offices in the European Union.

For further information, please click here and here.

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The Single Market is full of opportunities, in particular to doing business in another EU country than your own. It is essential that in this process you are aware of your rights. The website Your Europe can certainly help you get the important information on the Internal Market that you need, as Commissioner Barnier explains here.

In this website, you will also find a webpage dedicated to Intellectual Property Rights, with information concerning the European Union and also each Member State. In Your Europe you will find the main Intellectual Property rules in each country, as well as information on further resources and organizations dealing with Intellectual Property at national level.

In Your Europe you will also find a useful catalogue of available online tools and services for business concerning Intellectual Property Rights.

The information is available in all the languages of the European Union.

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Design plays a key role as an intangible asset for EU innovative companies. 21% of European companies use design as a strategic means to encourage innovation and the EU's design sector has an annual turnover of €36 billion. In order to fully exploit the design's potential to boost innovation, growth and job creation, the European Commission set up the European Design Innovation Initiative.

21 policy recommendations have been recently presented by the European Design Leadership Board addressing six areas for strategic action:

• the global stage; including identifying and strengthening existing European Design Centres, and creating a Designed in the European Union" label;
• Europe's innovation system; including new methods to measure the growth impact of investment in design, and including design within innovation and business incubators and their networks;
• Europe's enterprises; including strengthening design innovation in SMEs and facilitating access to finance for design-led companies;
• the public sector; including increasing the use of design and designers in public sector innovation by establishing design labs;
• the research system; including embedding design research in Europe’s research system; and
• the education system; including fostering a culture of design learning and encouraging Member States to support the development of design competencies for the 21st century.

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The OHIM IP Seminar 2012 organises by the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM) Academy, has begun on Monday September, with several sessions set in the week to come.

The Seminar aims to offer a platform for participants to learn and to exchange new ideas in the IP field, with a focus on trademarks and designs. Plenary sessions will run in the morning from 09:30 to 13:30, and afternoon workshops will follow, focusing either on legal issues or showcasing e-business tools. Every day will feature a quiz on what´s been covered during that session, with a final quiz at the end of the two weeks.

To see the Seminar programme, please click here

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The World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) has published the 2012 IP Facts and Figures. This publication includes data on patents, utility models, trademarks and industrial designs and it is focused on application data only. The guide is therefore an important source of information on the global trends of intellectual property activity.

This guide is available online and you may read it in full here.

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