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This year, the European Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) celebrates its 25th anniversary. This decentralised EU agency, in charge of European industrial property rights, was set up in 1994 in Alicante, Spain.<\/a>. Since then, its activity has continued to grow. EUIPO receives an average of 115,000 trademark applications and 85,000 design applications each year. 2019 marks a new record with the filing of the two millionth EU trademark.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In June 2019, EUIPO announces that the Czech company Crefoport s.r.o. has become the two millionth applicant for a Community trade mark.<\/a>. This Prague-based company has been providing business consulting since 1993. And yet, it is not this company that has contributed to the increase in trademark applications. It was its 1er<\/sup> European repository. In comparison, the Swiss company Nestl\u00e9 is the owner of 870 European trademarks. The pharmaceutical group Novartis AG has exceeded the 1,000 trademark registrations in the EU.<\/p>\n This two millionth application for a Community trade mark is indeed an important milestone for EUIPO. Even though the EU brand has been developing strongly for almost 15 years,<\/a> it took until 2011 to reach the floor of the 1er<\/sup> million. In 2018, the Board received 152,488 applications, an increase of 4.16 % over 2017.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The EU brand has significant advantages, which explains its success<\/a>. Indeed, by filing a Community trade mark, one benefits from a single registration, via an online procedure. Once registered, the trademark is valid in all EU Member States. This gives you an exclusive right in a market of almost 500 million consumers.<\/p>\n Finally, this protection can be obtained at a reasonable cost (from \u20ac850). Moreover, it is estimated that from 3 European countries, the EU trademark is more profitable than national registrations.<\/p>\n In addition to issuing industrial property titles, EUIPO performs a variety of other tasks. It thus comprises a Observatory of infringements of intellectual property rights<\/a>. This Observatory, created in 2009, is composed of representatives from the public and private sectors. In particular, it provides data and reports with a view to combating counterfeiting. But it also plays an active role in developing initiatives to encourage entrepreneurs to protect their industrial property rights. Finally, the Observatory designs campaigns to raise awareness of the value of IP.<\/p>\n <\/p>\nEUIPO: 25 years and two million trademarks<\/h2>\n
The European Union brand: an engine for growth<\/h2>\n