Three Studies Published by the EUIPO
Let us inform you about three new reports published by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO).
The European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights at the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), and in cooperation with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), published the study dealing with analysis of economic impacts of illicit trade in counterfeits on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), originally titled “Risks of Illicit Trade in Counterfeits to Small and Medium-Sized Firms”.
The study shows that infringements of intellectual property rights pose a great risk to profitability and survival of SMEs on the market, emphasising the data that SMEs whose intellectual property has been infringed have 34 % lower odds of survival than SMEs that did not experience infringements of intellectual property rights. Approximately half the counterfeits seized at the EU border infringing intellectual property rights of SMEs were bought online, with electrical machinery and electronics, clothing and fashion goods, perfumery and cosmetics, and toys and games being the most frequently targeted. The study also shows that 11 % of small firms whose intellectual property has been infringed do not enforce their rights at all, mostly because enforcement procedures being too lengthy and costly.
The entire study in English is available here, and there is also the executive summary available in Croatian.
The second report jointly published by the EUIPO and the Directorate-General Taxation and Customs Union (DG TAXUD) originally titled “EU enforcement of intellectual property rights: results at the EU border and in the EU internal market 2021“ has been dealing with the EU enforcement of intellectual property rights and the data on the detentions at the EU border reported by the customs authorities (of 26 out of 27 EU Member States) through the EU-wide anti-counterfeit and anti-piracy information system (COPIS), as well as the data on detentions within the internal market reported by the enforcement authorities (of 21 out of 27 EU Member States) through the Intellectual Property Enforcement Portal (IPEP).
The data collected on the annual number of detentions of goods suspected of infringing an intellectual property rights conducted by customs authorities at the EU border show a slight increase in 2021 compared to the previous year (from circa 70 000 in 2020 to circa 75 000 in 2021). The number of initiated procedures has also increased from approximately 102 000 in 2020 to approximately 124 000 in 2021. A more pronounced development can be observed with regard to the number of detained articles (from approximately 27 million in 2020 to approximately 42 million in 2021), even exceeding the pre-COVID-19 pandemic figure in 2019.
The trend of IPR-infringing goods detained in the EU internal market increased, so that the number of goods reported as detained in 2021 was 53 million (in 2020, it was 46 million).
In both cases, trade marks stand for the most infringed IPR type.
The entire study in English is available here, and the executive summary in Croatian here.
The third report published by the EUIPO refers to the second edition of the document originally titled “Intellectual Property Infringement and Enforcement - Tech Watch Discussion Paper 2023“. The report is dealing with analysis of new technologies such as robotics, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, 3D printing, spatial and quantum computing, blockchain, 5G/6G networking etc., the use of which may enhance the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights, but also contribute to infringements of intellectual property rights.
Namely, due to the accelerated development of technology, an Impact of Technology Expert Group was established in 2019 within the European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights to support the Observatory’s work involving technological issues, identifying then new technologies with the potential to impact IP protection, infringement and enforcement, carrying out studies, launching initiatives and conducting activities with an aim to raise stakeholders’ knowledge about technologies with the potential to impact intellectual property. Four workshops of this expert group have been held so far, and all the findings until now have been summarised in 13 points.
The entire document in English is available here.
Datum novosti: 27/02/2023