Every day, a team of 40 specialists reviews around 800 trademark registration applications from companies or individuals for use exclusively in the European Union. They analyze whether each client's proposal exceeds the requirements that make it acceptable in all member countries and in all languages of the European network and does not go against the interests of other users. The color of the Milka chocolate wrappers, the entry to the Netflix audiovisual platform, the products marketed by Banksy or Ibai Llanos, the shape of the Vespa, memes from social networks and even the sound with which children of San Ildefonso they sing El Gordo de Navidad. They are the members of the ICE (Interactive Collaborative Examination, for its acronym in English), the first filter that applications that arrive at the European Intellectual Property Agency (EUIPO) must go through, which in 2024 will celebrate 30 years since it was established in Alicante and has already processed 2.6 million trademark applications and 1.8 million designs.
“In the past, all ICE members had a legal profile,” says Ernesto Abarca, one of its members, “but now there are also economists or biologists,” among other disciplines, to provide the most appropriate response to applicants. Among the requirements, the European agency demands that brands “not be offensive.” “After the outbreak of the war in Ukraine,” recalls Athena Poysky, also a member of ICE, “we received many requests that directly attacked Putin” and which were rejected. Nor can they be “descriptive of the sector to which they belong,” continues Juan Morales, another of the members of the registry access door. “An agricultural company dedicated to fruit cannot be called Apple, because it would prevent the use of that word by all the others,” exemplifies Poysky, “on the other hand, Apple can be called that because it sells technological devices.” If the cabinet does not find any problem, they respond “within a maximum period of 20 days from the payment of the fees,” says Abarca. If any objection arises, “we have two months to argue it.”
The EUIPO unifies the regulations of the intellectual property offices of the 27 EU countries. Although the ideal, maintains its fifth executive director, the Portuguese João Negrão, would be to harmonize all the world's records. Negrão joined the agency's staff in 2010 and, since October, has led an entity with 1,180 workers, making it the second largest in Europe, after the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex), based in Warsaw. His budget for this year is 437 million euros, “from own income” from the collection of fees, 850 euros for trademark registration and 350 for designs. The EUIPO has been acquiring powers since its creation, says Negrão. From registering trademarks with which they began in 1994, they have gone on to process designs, copyrights of specific works and industrial and artisanal geographical indications. They cooperate with third countries around the world to improve intellectual property protection standards and, by 2025, they will acquire agricultural geographical indications.
After arriving at the largest office on the main floor of the agency complex, Negrão has proposed implementing “a more inclusive and diverse system” that gives “the opportunity to protect their interests to groups excluded” from its list of users. Firstly, SMEs, “of which only 10% of those existing in Europe” benefit from the agency's work. “We offer them support with financing to protect their brands and designs,” he says, “we offer them legal advice and even to obtain financing.” “Small business owners should know how much their brands are worth,” says Negrão, “because they could serve as collateral to request a bank loan.” He also wants to spread notions of intellectual property among young people. “According to our study, 37% buy products that they know are counterfeit.” This practice, according to a report presented last week, generates losses of 16 million euros and destroys 200,000 jobs a year in Europe alone in the clothing, cosmetics and toy sectors. Finally, Negrão wants to encourage the participation of women. “Only 24% of registered designs are signed by a woman.” For these groups, the manager admits that the EUIPO “must know how to explain the benefits of innovation, define measures to convince everyone that it allows social, professional and personal development.”
Long before Negrão, in 1998, Ursula Schildt, her chief of staff, who was born in Sysmä, a small town in the Finnish lake area, entered the agency's payroll. He joined the first headquarters, on the central Aguilera avenue in Alicante, “where we worked with paper and faxes,” he recalls, laughing, “and queues of people with documents under their arms gathered at the door to process their requests. brands.” After a brief visit to the Esplanade, the EUIPO was installed at the Alicante exit towards Elche, at the Aguamarga exit, in 2002. It already has three buildings, with spectacular views of the Mediterranean, in which the presence of multiple nationalities among the staff “they give awareness of the European project, one of the greatest advantages of working in a multilingual and multicultural environment,” says Schildt. The complex of offices and leisure facilities has left its mark on Alicante. The insistence of her staff, especially Belgians and Dutch, achieved the construction of a cycle path that connects the urban area with the EUIPO. And the abundance of families with children motivated Alicante to be the only Spanish city with a European School dependent on Brussels, despite the fact that there are also agencies in Bilbao (Occupational Health and Safety), Barcelona (Fusion For Energy), Torrejón of Ardoz (European Satellite Center) and Vigo (Fisheries Control).
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All workers mainly highlight the climate of Alicante and the flexibility of schedules as the main attractions of the position. During EL PAÍS's visit, 12:30 arrives, the time when the staff begins to go down to the canteen, open until 3:00 p.m. to face the discussed Spanish eating time. In an outdoor area rest Camilla, Zorka and Aisling, three interns from Italy, Hungary and Ireland, respectively, who are studying master's degrees at the agency. Dozens of people already sit at the tables on the ground floor and terrace of the main building, bringing their own meals or eating those from the all-you-can-eat buffet. Several languages are heard among the diners. “Working in an international agency requires you to leave your comfort zone, which is very enriching,” says Morales before returning to ICE. “You develop empathy and tolerance towards all cultures, European sentiment grows, clichés become blurred,” he says.
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