A Belgian heads up intellectual property protection
Friday 13 July 2018 was a lucky day for the Belgian Christian Archambeau. Indeed, on this day he was elected head of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO).
Since 1994, this institution has managed the rights for trade marks and designs in the EU. The EUIPO is also responsible for the European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights and the Orphan Works Database. Its objective is to guarantee the existence of exclusive rights on distinguishing signs and to protect the EU's trademarks and designs uniformly across the whole of the EU.
On average, the Office receives and reviews over 115,000 trademark applications and 85,000 design applications annually. It also encourages the intellectual property offices of the EU member countries to converge their practices through the cooperation activities of the European network for trademarks and designs. User-friendly tools are used for this purpose. The head office for this institution is based in Alicante, in Spain.