Alicante and the ECHR, a love story over 30 years

The city is also known to the agency. It is a true love story. 'EUIPO staff are ambassadors for Alicante and Spain,' Negrao said.

This is the second largest agency of the European Union and since October it has been headed by Joao Negrao, the fifth head in EUIPO's history. Negrao outlined the important challenges facing the agency. One of them is the adoption of the treatment of a future common copyright in the European area, a copyright for 27 countries, the draft of which has yet to be developed. He said this at the conference of the More Europe Forum, organized by the Information Club and the Mediterranean House. "The European Union still does not have a unified and common copyright to operate in a market of 27 countries; this is an issue that''must be considered,' said Negrao.

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In addition to European copyright law, Negrao indicated that he will develop the protection of geographical industrial designations, and the aim is to adopt geographical agricultural designations. The conference also made an explicit reference to the fight against piracy in order to attract mainly young people to the need to protect intellectual property. "They don't believe in protection if they have a cheaper option to buy," Negrao said, also asking for cooperation from authorities in the fight against piracy.

Of course, EUIPO is following the economic context and the geopolitical situation very closely. Thus, as a result of the Ukrainian war, new applications for trade' are checked daily'stamps, drawings and models coming from Russian-occupied Ukrainian regions to prevent the illegal seizure of intellectual property rights. "The aim is to prevent Russian companies or persons under European Union sanctions from obtaining intellectual property rights so that they cannot gain commercial advantage in the single market, either directly or through the transfer of these rights," he explained.

Although their work is very active, this year has been unusual, with a 12% drop in trademark and design applications due to the effects of Russia's invasion of Ukrainian territory; therefore, EUIPO has reduced revenues and needs to become "more efficient," said''Negrao.

Ahead of the 30th anniversary of the opening of the office in Alicante, Negrao advocated opening EUIPO's doors to citizens and further strengthening ties with the city. And, of course, to follow the path set out so that the agency continues to strengthen its role in the European structure.