Following the recent certification of Zaragoza as the second Spanish Authenticity, under the European Cooperation Project ‘European Network of Authenticities’, the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office (SPTO) and the municipality of Zaragoza held its project kick-off media event on 20 December 2022.
Representatives from the SPTO, local authorities, the IP world and the media participated in the event.
All the institutions represented at the event were firmly committed to the defence of industrial Property rights and the fight against counterfeiting. Authenticities is specifically designed to empower authorities at a local level to engage citizens and other stakeholders in this fight with the aim to increase IP awareness at a local level and enhance the protection of these rights.
The Executive Director of the EUIPO, Christian Archambeau, joining the event via recorded video, stated that awareness raising on the importance of IP for businesses and the damage caused by its infringement is crucial for the future growth of all European businesses:
“As an Authenticity, the city of Zaragoza will now deploy a series of awareness-raising actions to prevent the purchase of counterfeit products by consumers, as well as other actions to eliminate the supply of counterfeit products.”
Furthermore, recently the municipalities of Targovishte (BG) and Corfu (GR) joined the network by signing their Memorandum of Understanding with respectively the Patent Office of the Republic of Bulgaria (BPO) and the Hellenic Industrial Property Organisation (OBI). And Thessaloniki (GR) will be still an active part of the network as it has been re-certified as an Authenticity for 2 more years.
Under this cooperation project, EU MS National IP offices will contribute to building a European Network of certified Authenticities, where best practices can be shared and new synergies created.
