The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) organized from 28 to 30 March the 20th meeting in the field of cooperation, the 29th meeting in the field of trademarks and the 22nd meeting in the field of industrial design.

Experts from the intellectual property offices of EU Member States, candidate countries as well as representatives of international intellectual property associations and organizations met to discuss about the latest developments in the field of trademarks, industrial design, and international cooperation.

The Republic of Moldova was represented by Victoria Pulbere, deputy head of the Trademarks and Industrial Design Department, within the State Agency on Intellectual Property (AGEPI).

An overview of the projects funded, implemented by the EUIPO, the latest developments and achievements from the year 2022, as well as the perspectives for the year 2023 on the ongoing European cooperation projects were presented during the meetings. Information on international cooperation with non-EU countries (including TM5 and ID5 projects), activities with the European Patent Office (EPO), World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and ȚEU-funded projectsȚ was also presented.

During the sessions, topics related to the projects for convergence and implementation of common practices were addressed, including updates on ongoing common practices (CP13, CP14 and CP15). Actions implemented to support IP offices in the transposition of the Trademarks Directive according to ECP7 were presented. IP policy developments in the following areas - Metaverse, NFTs, registration trends, product and service classification issues in the context of trademark registration, etc., were also presented.

In addition, the practical issues that arise when seeking better industrial design protection were addressed and analyzed in the context of legislative reform proposals, including changing the definition.

The meetings (Liason Meeting EUIPO) constitute a formal forum to discuss technical topics by experts and are therefore an important step towards the continued development and sustainability of the European Union Intellectual Property Network (EUIPN).