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Now in its fifth year, the "Boards of appeal and key decisions" conference gives a unique insight into the EPO's case law practice. Many hundreds of participants have already made use of the opportunity to ask questions, raise concerns and define their position on specific issues.

This year's conference, which will feature chairmen of the boards of appeal, legally and technically qualified members and the chairman of the Enlarged Board of Appeal, will focus on topics such as clarity, the problem-solution approach and recent "G" cases. It will also look at the appeal systems of the IP5 offices.

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Companies owning intellectual property rights (IPRs) have, in general, 29% higher revenue per employee, about six times as many employees and pay wages that are up to 20% higher than firms which do not own IPRs.

These are the main findings of a study carried out by the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) acting through the EU Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights.

The study, which is based on official public financial data from more than 2.3 million European firms, covers companies which own patents, trade marks and designs at both national and EU level.

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British scientist and entrepreneur Luke Alphey today (11 June 2015) joined an elite group of innovators as he was named one of Europe’s top inventors by the 2015 European Inventor Award for his ground-breaking work on the control of mosquitos.

Launched by the European Patent Office (EPO) in 2006, the European Inventor Award is one of Europe’s most prestigious innovation prizes, honouring individuals and teams whose pioneering work provides answers to some of the biggest challenges of our times. 

Nominated in the highly competitive research category, Luke narrowly missed out on the top prize but was praised for his ground-breaking research into infectious diseases and mosquitoes. 

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OHIM have recently detected a number of payments that have been debited wrongly from user accounts. These concern mostly trade mark applications that had been previously withdrawn or were debited twice. In the coming days, the Office will be individually contacting the users whose applications are eligible for reimbursement.

These debits were discovered independently by the Office during checks that were being carried out as part of the introduction of some improvements to the integration of our different production and accountancy systems. In total there are 868 applications affected for the period 1996-2014. After careful analysis, around 50% of these applications can still be reimbursed in compliance with the four-year maximum time-limit established in Article 84 of the Community Trade Mark Regulation.

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This specialist, classroom based course is aimed at anyone wanting to develop their knowledge and skills when working with business on issues around intellectual property.

It will enable you to develop a detailed understanding of all aspects of IP and its relationship with business, culture and the economy. You will also develop sound practical skills you can apply to a business environment.

Further information is available in our Intellectual Property for business guidance.

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On 7 May 2015, from 12.00-13.15 CET, intellectual property expert Dr Frederick MOSTERT will be put through his paces by a moderator during a streamed conference at OHIM.

Dr Frederick MOSTERT is a recognised authority on intellectual property issues and has put IP on the map for all to use and understand. His position as Chief IP and Legal Counsel of Luxury Group Richemont contrasts with his role as pro bono legal assistant to President Nelson Mandela and Past President of INTA.

OHIM's Academy organises regular conferences to offer IP authors a platform to share their knowledge and put it to the test with the help of a moderator.

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The Pan-European Seal IP Campus Pilot 2015 took place at OHIM's premises between 11 and 13 May. Organised by OHIM and the European Patent Office, this IP awareness and dissemination event gathered together the 14 trainees of OHIM's Pilot Edition of the Pan-European Seal, as well as other in-house trainees, bringing the total number of participants to 34.

The event included conferences on intellectual property (IP) related topics, such as the economic value of EU trade marks and designs, the Community trade mark legislative reform, patents and economic growth, counterfeiting and piracy, design law, and IP in the fashion industry. Additionally, the programme included two visits to local IP intensive industries, a discussion panel on the role of IP in the global economy, and two career guidance sessions in the IP field.

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As of 18 May 2015, the Icelandic Patent Office (ELS - IPO) has made their design data available to the Designview search tool.

The integration of ELS - IPO is a concrete result of the International Cooperation programme managed by OHIM in collaboration with its international partners.

With ELS - IPO on-board, there are now 31 participating offices in Designview. With the addition of more than 3.500 designs from ELS - IPO, Designview now provides information and access to more than 4,2 million designs in total.

Since the introduction of Designview on 19 November 2012, the tool has served about 935.000 searches from 137 different countries, with users from Spain, Germany and the UK among the most frequent visitors.

You can find out more at https://www.tmdn.org/tmdsview-web/welcome.