Our partners
Good ideas are worth chasing
In the ever-changing world of intellectual property, it is always good to get different perspectives. That is why we have close links with other national, regional and supranational intellectual property (IP) bodies, from Europe's IP offices and the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property (BOIP) to the enforcement authorities of the European Union's national courts and the TM5, an international forum made up of the EUIPO and the IP offices of the US, China, Japan and Korea.
From any viewpoint, the successful provision of an intellectual property system requires skilful cooperation between experts drawn from widely differing professions and regions.
EU intellectual property offices
The European trade mark and design system is based on the principle of coexistence of different registration options for trade marks and designs.
The European Union trade mark and registered Community design offer protection throughout the European Union, that is in geographic jurisdictions also covered by national rights. As a result, cooperation between the EUIPO and the national intellectual property offices of the different Member States of the EU has proved to be essential.
Cooperation takes different forms:
- Liaison Meetings: these meetings are held between the EUIPO and the EU´s IP national offices to discuss issues of common interest and exchange best practices. There are currently four Liaison Meetings each year: two on trade mark issues, one on designs and one on developments in the EUIPO's Cooperation Fund programme.
Liaison Meetings also play a part in the revision of the EUIPO´s Guidelines; topics which are dealt with in the Guidelines are typically discussed at the meetings, which constitute an opportunity for the EUIPO to contrast its own practice. Moreover, the draft Guidelines are circulated among national offices, which may also submit their comments.
Representatives of the EUIPO´s user group community, the European Commission and WIPO are invited to attend the Liaison Meetings as observers.
- Liaison area (restricted access)
- Bilateral agreements: we hold regular meetings with the representatives of the EU's intellectual property offices, as well as regular 'IP days', with national user groups, in order to keep up to date with developments at national and regional level in the European Union.
- Multilateral cooperation with the EUIPO and other national IP offices through the European Union Intellectual Property Network.
- Participation in the EUIPO's governing bodies as members of the Administrative Board and Budget Committee.
Annual meetings of our User Group
Users are at the heart of the EUIPO's work, which is why we encourage their consultation and feedback on all aspects of the European Union trade mark and Community design system.
The EUIPO User Group meetings, which began in 1998, bring together users' representative bodies to air their views and share developments at the EUIPO and at industry level. The user and sectorial organisations that participate in the meetings range from EU-wide federations of small- and medium-sized businesses to associations representing particular industries or trade mark owners.
There are currently 23 organisations:
- AIM
European Brands Association - AIPPI
International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property - ANIPA
Association of National Institutes of Intellectual Property Attorneys - APRAM
Association des Praticiens du Droit des Marques et des Modèles - ASIPI
Inter-American Association of Intellectual Property - BEDA
The Bureau of European Design Associations - BMM
Benelux Association of Trademark and Design Law - BusinessEurope
- CEFIC
European Chemical Industry Council - CITMA
Chartered Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys - ECTA
European Communities Trade Mark Association - EFPIA
European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations - EURATEX
The European Apparel and Textile Confederation
- FEMIPI
Fédération Européenne des Mandataires de l'Industrie en Propriété Industrialle - FICPI
Fédération Internationale des Conseils en Propriété Industrielle - GRUR
German Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property - ICC
International Chamber of Commerce - ico-D
International Council of Design - INTA
International Trademark Association - LES
Licensing Executives Society - MARQUES
- UNION
European Practitioners in Intellectual Property - WDO
World Design Organization
Introducing TM5
The TM5 group links EUIPO with some of the international key players in the field of intellectual property: the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), the Japan Patent Office (JPO), State Intellectual Property Office of the People’s Republic of China (SIPO) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The TM5 is responsible for over half of the world's international trade marks.
The TM5, previously called the Trilateral, started in 2001 as a forum between JPO, the EUIPO and USPTO. It adopted its present form in 2012. Today, the TM5 is working on 13 trade mark projects that range from establishing a list of commonly accepted terms of goods and services for classifying trade marks to finding common statistical indicators for capturing critical data on applications. One of the 11 projects, TM5 website, provides up-to-date information on all the projects.
Alicante 30 November -1 December 2017
Alexandria 1-2 December 2015
Tokyo 3-5 December 2014
Seoul 5-6 December 2013
Barcelona, 30-31 October, 2012
Alexandria, VA, 5-7 December, 2011
Tokyo, 7-9 December, 2010
Alicante, 9-11 December, 2009
Introducing ID5
The ID5 is a new industrial design framework, set up by the Japan Patent Office (JPO), the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China (SIPO) and the United States Trademark and Patent Office (USPTO).
ID5 focuses on improving consistency in registration practices, cataloguing office practices, promoting interoperable procedural frameworks and sharing information to protect emerging designs like graphical user interfaces (GUIs), animations and other new technology designs.
It was set up by the TM5 partners, in acknowledgement of the growing importance of industrial design, and held its inaugural meeting in Virginia, USA, in December 2015.
Discussions on design issues were held in parallel with trade mark sessions in the TM5 since 2010, leading to the creation of a catalogue comparing view and drawing requirements.
The decision by the TM5 partners to set up ID5 recognises the importance of promoting and further developing user-friendly industrial design protection systems for the benefit of global users.
The ID5 website can be consulted here
European Patent Office (EPO)
At EUIPO we also work closely with the European Patent Office (EPO), which grants patent protection in up to 40 countries. Unlike EUIPO, EPO is an intergovernmental organisation, not a European Union body.
The main areas in which we collaborate are training, awareness raising and promotion of intellectual property (IP). The EPO is also involved in the cooperation activities of the European Union Intellectual Property Network.
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
The World Intellectual Property Organization is an agency of the United Nations that is devoted to promoting and developing intellectual property (patents, copyright, trade marks and designs). It offers services to protect intellectual property rights internationally, and helps to shape the international legal IP framework.
WIPO works with the EUIPO in the cooperation activities of the European Union Intellectual Property Network. In particular, the two organisations are working together on enhancing users' access to trade mark information via the EUIPO's TMview and WIPO's Global Brand Database.
WIPO is an observer organisation in the TM5, a forum made up of the EUIPO and the world's leading trade mark offices.