Approximately 86 million fake items were detained in the European Union in 2021, an increase of almost 31 % compared to 2020, according to a joint report by the EUIPO Observatory and the European Commission.
On 21 December 2022, the city of Burgas (Bulgaria) became the 4th bulgarian certified ‘Authenticity’ of the European Network of Authenticities (European Cooperation Project 8). The others bulgarian certified cities are the Authenticities of Sofia, Plovdiv and Targovishte.
Following a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Patent Office of the Republic of Bulgaria and the Municipality of Burgas, over the next 2 years, a series of IP-related awareness-raising activities will take place in the newly certified Authenticity.
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.
Following the recent re-certification of Thessaloniki and last year’s certification of Mykonos, on 7 December 2022 the Municipality of Corfu became the third Greek Authenticity to join the growing European Network of Authenticities.
On 2 November 2022, the city of Targovishte (Bulgaria) became the 3rd bulgarian certified ‘Authenticity’ of the European Network of Authenticities (European Cooperation Project 8). The others bulgarian certified cities are the Authenticities of Sofia and Plovdiv.
Following a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Patent Office of the Republic of Bulgaria and the Municipality of Targovishte, over the next 2 years, a series of IP-related awareness-raising activities will take place in the newly certified Authenticity.
On 26 October 2022 the municipality of Lisbon became the first certified Portuguese ‘Authenticity’.
During the kick-off media event the Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the President of the Directive Council of INPI PT, Mrs Ana Bandeira, the Mayor of Lisbon, Mr Carlos Moedas and the Minister of Justice, Mrs Catarina Sarmento e Castro.
The event was the first in a series of IP-related, awareness-raising activities that will take place locally over the next two years in the newly certified Authenticity.
As part of the European Cooperation Projects, and in particular ECP8 which includes the ‘European Network of Authenticities’, the Hellenic Industrial Property Organisation (OBI) and the municipality of Mykonos held the project kick-off media event on 8 June. This event follows Mykonos’ certification last July as the second Greek ‘Authenticity’.
On 4 April 2020, the six EU cities that are part of the Authenticities network met in Thessaloniki to discuss the state of play of the network, ongoing actions and what lays ahead.
Since its inception in 2020, this is the first time the ‘Authenticities’ have met.
The meeting brought together, representatives from national IP offices, stakeholders from EU countries involved in the initiative, and member cities. Together, they confirmed their commitment to the Authenticity network and to ensuring that it continues to grow, into the future.
Following the recent certification of Madrid as the first Spanish Authenticity, under the European Cooperation Project ‘European Network of Authenticities’, the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office (SPTO) and the municipality of Madrid held its project kick-off media event on 4 March 2022.
The Subsecretary of Industry, Commerce and Tourism and representatives from the SPTO, the EUIPO, local authorities, the IP world and the media participated in the event.
On 29 December 2021, under the framework of the European Cooperation Project (ECP8) ‘European Network of Authenticities’, the city of Madrid (Spain) became the 1st spanish certified ‘Authenticity’ of the network, following the Authenticities of Thessaloniki, Sofia, Plovdiv, Mykonos and Banská Bystrica.
