The European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights starts to work
Recently, we have become aware of the entry into force of the Regulation (EU) No. 386/2012. By virtue of this Regulation, the Office for Harmonisation of the Internal Market (OHIM) is now empowered with the creation of the European Observatory on Infringement of Intellectual Property Rights, a new body that will carry out certain tasks and activities aimed at fighting IP rights infringements.
The Observatory was originally envisaged in the “European anti- counterfeiting and Piracy plan” established by the Council Resolution of September 25th 2008. It consists of a network of IP experts from the public and the private sectors to serve the purpose of becoming “a resource for gathering, monitoring and reporting information and data related to all infringements of Intellectual Property rights” to tackle piracy.
The Observatory seeks to carry out its duties taking into consideration not only all the legal legislation available, but also all the input coming from national authorities and stakeholders so that ideas and concerns are exchanged, together with solutions to stop modern-day ways of infringing IP rights. Therefore, the idea behind the Resolution is to reunite all sources available to tackle piracy.
The justification of entrusting the OHIM with tasks related to the enforcement of IP rights (the so mentioned tasks are contained in art. 2 of the Regulation), lies in the worrisome fact that more and more products are counterfeit each year, together with the threat it constitutes not only to the economy but also to the health and safety of the consumers. An analysis of the situation at present can be consulted in the Commission Communication “Enhancing the enforcement of Intellectual Property Right in the internal market”. To prevent further damages and given the fact that IP rights are vital intangible assets, the Office has been empowered with such tasks and activities.
In Salvador Ferrandis & Partners we believe that the Observatory can help to make people understand not only why IP rights must be protected, but also the value that hides behind IP rights. In addition to this, the Observatory will be able to gather information concerning IPR infringements within the Internal market, at EU’s borders and, particularly, in EU’s commercial partners. Such information should be very useful to define future actions of the EU to combat counterfeiting and piracy and to protect the interests of European firms in third countries.