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This project is a great example of the synergy between the Cooperation Fund and the Convergence Programme.

In a first step TMClass is the outcome of a Cooperation Fund project where a common classification tool for all participating offices has been created. This tool is now the basis of the Harmonisation of Classification project that will have as a final aim to reach a common classification practice.

It is for historical reasons that the project brief below addresses both the Cooperation Fund project (the common tool) and the Convergence programme project (the common practice).

The Harmonisation of Classification project consists of various pillars:

• Harmonisation of classification of Goods and Services: The Harmonised Offices use the same database of pre-approved Goods & Services.
• Taxonomy: The classification database contains many entries of Goods and Services. The taxonomy brings a hierarchical structure in these entries, by means of parent-child relations. For example: footwear is the parent of both children shoes and boots.

The Terminology Maintenance Console is a common administrative tool that can be accessed by classification experts in EU  National and Regional IP Offices and WIPO, through a secure web page.

The tool is used to maintain the Harmonised Database of terms for goods and services classification. It allows IP Offices participating in the Harmonised Database to reach common decisions on the acceptance of new terms, or any change to the data base, via a voting system.

Through the platform, the Database can be updated systematically, thanks to the collaborative effort of the participating Offices. This has clear benefits for users, who can rely on a fully agreed, fully updated and consistent list of classification terms, reflecting the evolution of the market.

e-Learning tool providing online training for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) on the importance of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs).

This e-Learning tool is divided into two main sections: "Why is Intellectual Property important", where you can find information about Intellectual Property throughout the different stages of production, and "What and How to protect" where you can find information targeted towards Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), covering the different types of Intellectual Property rights.

A seniority claim allows you to maintain the right obtained in a Member State, under the European Union trade mark.

The initiative enables participating IP offices to harmonize seniority information, achieve compliance with legislation on seniority effects, and contribute to providing enhanced IP protection for their users at national level so that users have the same high-quality experience, regardless in which database they need to check the details of the seniority claim.

It involves making the information accessible online, by using harmonized terminology, the creation of a seniority field and the establishment of hyperlinks between entries in the databases of participating offices and of the EUIPO.

The tool gathers and shows assessments from the participating IP offices on similarities between goods and services.

In opposition and cancellation procedures the comparison of goods and services plays a crucial role in the examination procedure. Similarity is a central point where it is possible to consult the assessments of the participating offices with regards to the comparisons of goods and services.

You can either search for a particular comparison of 2 goods or services, or compare lists of goods and services. The goods and services that are compared in the tool are directly linked to TMclass. This allows the user to explore them in more detail and make comparisons between the decisions taken by any participating office in any of the EU languages.

Transparent and harmonized information about services and quality standards provided by participating offices.

Quality is an online tool that promotes quality by providing transparent, easily accessible information on services and performance offered by each participating office. A user is able to select the required information through a variety of perspectives. The following information is available:

• Information related to a particular participating office
• Which offices supply which services
• Which offices are currently committed to which quality standards
• Shared and individual performance targets
• Most recent performance for each office
• Trends

The Common Examiners Support Tool providing a harmonized search of several databases to support examiners.

CESTO is an automated and harmonized search tool which will perform searches for any given trade mark application and in turn provides information in relation to similar trade marks from an array of participating offices (who have their trade marks in TMview), similar trade marks from the same or similar owners from the same array of offices, emblems and other heraldic devices held by WIPO, Geographical Indications at EU and national level, International Non-Proprietary Names for active pharmaceutical ingredients from WHO (MedNet), as well as any specific information provided by the participating offices (on a dashboard). Some of the most commonly used webpages containing English language and specialized dictionaries will also be included.

Free online tool to search, translate or classify goods and services when applying for trade marks.

When applying to register a trade mark, you need to describe the goods and/or services for which you wish to protect your trade mark.

TMclass is a central point from which it is possible to access the terms that appear in the classification databases of each of the offices participating in the initiative.

If the applicant uses the terms that appear in the database of the trade mark office where they seek protection, then the process of registration will be much faster. TMclass can be used for the following:

• SEARCH TERM You can search for goods and services descriptions (terms) and find out which class they are in before you apply for trade mark protection.
• VERIFY LIST OF TERMS You can check if a list of goods and services in a given language appears in the database of a participating trade mark office with the same working language.
• TRANSLATE TERM For any word/s that you type in, you can find goods and services classification terms that contain that word or words, and the translations for the terms in the EU language of your choice.

A common search system for designs, based on information pooled from different sources. Also, a complementary examination/invalidation tool for participating IP offices.

Designview is an online consultation tool allowing any Internet user to search, free of charge, the designs of all participating offices. It is a multilingual and easy-to-use tool, and gives access to design applications and registrations provided by the participating offices through a single and unique platform. Each office owns the content it makes available and is responsible for its daily update. You can use Designview to:

• Check and visualize existing designs across Europe
• Check market tendencies
• Obtain easy access to post-registration services in a harmonized way
• Help users to check the novelty of a design
• In legal administrative and legal processes, for example, help customs in their procedures, judges in case of conflict between parties

Assist offices, for example, to carry out in-depth examinations or to help examiners to check earlier priority rights.

TMview is an online consultation tool allowing any Internet user to search for, free of charge, the trade marks of all trade mark offices involved in the initiative. You can use TMview to:

• Carry out 24/7 trade mark searches in 22 languages of the EU
• Gain first hand, daily updated trade mark information from the participating offices' official registers
• Access millions of trade mark applications and registrations
• Check the availability of an idea for a trade mark name
• Find out the goods and services protected by a competitors' trade mark
• Receive updates on selected trade marks for change of status, change of the applicant/owner name and end of opposition period
• Examine trade mark details such as legal status, graphic representation, registration date, etc.
• View the trade marks details in the office of origin
• Print or export trade mark information to PDF, Excel & XML

TMview also provides information and is a working tool for trade mark examiners.

The Anti-Counterfeiting Intelligence Support Tool (ACIST) is the European Union database which gathers statistics on detentions, at borders and within the internal market, of articles that are suspected of infringing intellectual property rights.

The database has been populated with data on detentions at borders occurring in all 28 Member States since 2012, as well as with data from a number of Members States on detentions which have taken place within the member states. The database is updated on a regular basis.

The system converts the collected data into a harmonised format to facilitate comparison and aggregation. The Observatory is cooperating with the European Union enforcement authorities to establish best practices with regard to data collection and to further develop the Anti-Counterfeiting Intelligence Support Tool.

For questions or more information on ACIST, please contact observatory.acist@euipo.europa.eu

The EDB: a new way to protect your products

The Enforcement Database (EDB) is an IT database which helps enforcement authorities to recognise counterfeit goods. It is free of charge and easy to use.

It allows rights holders to protect their products by entering relevant information into the tool.

Information like packaging, identifiers, logistics, prior cases and contact persons for enforcement can all be easily and securely uploaded.  As this information is likely to be the same for most of the products of a given right holder, you don´t need to upload the entire product portfolio; just some key examples that will help customs and police protect your products against counterfeiting and piracy.

Linking business and enforcement

The EDB is built on existing official registers like TMview and DesignView. It is endorsed by both DG TAXUD and Europol. Customs and police have agreed to make the tool operational by adding it into their internal secure network.

Once you have an account and have uploaded information regarding your products and IP rights the tool can automatically generate a prefilled Application for Action (AFA) with all the necessary information for customs to take action at the border on your behalf.

Although the tool will NOT replace any of the legal customs procedures, it will create alerts, providing a direct communication channel between right holders and enforcement authorities.

The information entered into the EDB can be accessed by customs authorities and police across the EU in their language. Of course, you can choose what information to upload, and to whom you want this information to be available.

Also, EUIPO and World Customs Organisation (WCO) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding, agreeing to link the database to the WCO's IPM tool, which will allow right holders to transfer information on their portfolios between the two tools.

How to register

If you want to apply for an account in the EDB, you need to have a valid registered trademark within the EU. If this is the case, please send an e-mail to: Observatory.edb@euipo.europa.eu

The tool offers the same user experience in relation to general EUTM/RCD queries regardless whether the users contact the participating IP office or EUIPO.

The tool serves as a common IT system that the personnel at the participating offices can use to create and handle their support cases, search for up-to-date information, collaborate, share or balance the workload to achieve operational excellence.

Participating offices will be able to systematise their information service processes, obtaining the benefits of automation such as productivity improvements or load balancing. The system will provide statistics which will allow better monitoring and decision-making. This information will support participating offices in identifying strengths and weaknesses, and planning staffing and training.

The tool will improve accuracy, consistency and speed of supplied information. Participating offices will be able to use a knowledge exchange platform with information that will allow them to find all the relevant information they require to deliver the service.

A tool that supports a basic set of questions and methodology from where participating IP offices can launch their IP surveys.

The tool (limesurvey) offers templates for the construction of user satisfaction surveys, containing a proposed and tested basic set of questions in the languages of the implementing countries, a user manual , guidelines for preparing and launching surveys, and resources for analysis and reporting results.

An analysis of the completed survey will allow the participating office to:

• measure customer satisfaction
• draw attention to areas for improvement
• plan future work of the office

A best practice forecasting model, deployed in an easy-to use web application, that will provide a harmonized planning, budgeting and forecasting environment

The quality of an IP office's resource planning directly depends on the quality of the underlying forecast methodology. While there is always an unavoidable degree of uncertainty to any prediction made, the predictive performance of applicable models varies significantly, and this variation can be empirically tested and benchmarked.

The tool will provide a best practice forecasting model in an easy-to use web application. Any data that is a driver for trade mark or design filings will be stored and controlled in a secure central database and analysed on their correlations. This will allow the user to perform analysis on the data directly or refresh reports previously defined. It will provide a planning, budgeting and forecasting environment that supports business modelling, enabling each office to develop timely, reliable forecasts, budgets and resource planning.

A series of core IT activities that help participating offices to develop the best solution for the planning of future IT architecture and delivery of the extended common standard needed to enable systems to communicate.

This initiative was the first step in the process to develop future IT architecture and deliver an extended common standard needed to enable systems to communicate.

The initiative identified the following areas where common standards needed to be established:

• TM-XML and DS-XML standard extensions. The existing versions of TM-XML and DS-XML covered data dissemination, publication and e-filing. These standards needed to be extended in order to enable the new software to meet the needs of all participating offices within a single common communications standard.
• Architecture model definition. Through the establishment of working groups supported by full-time experts, an agreed architecture model was designed which provided the blueprint for the rest of the software package.
• Procurement. The initiative selected the optimal procurement procedure and one or more providers for the software package.

This initiative enabled a considerable saving in terms of time compared to a simple sequential structure, enabling completion in one year in place of three.

An easy and efficient way to access the European Trade Mark and Design Network.

The platform allows users to access tools and knowledge bases of the European Trade Mark and Design Network. From this point you can:

• Access all the tools of the Cooperation Fund
• Read documentation provided by the Convergence Programme
• Learn about latest IP regulations
• Access IP offices and User Associations
• Access, by single sign-on, to authenticated areas if you are an IT administrator or member of a working group

Web based suite of tools supporting the trade marks and designs lifecycle.

The tool is an e-business and back office solution for IP offices, including EUIPO. The envisaged software platform will be highly customisable and flexible so as to adapt to the diverse needs of the participating offices. The first tool of the suite is e-filing for trade marks. Other tools to follow; e-filing for designs, e-payments, e-opposition, e-registration, e-invalidity, e- cancellation for both trade marks and designs. With these tools the end user will be able to perform all activities connected with the trade mark or design lifecycle that pertain to the trade mark or design proprietor.

The objective of this project is to create a common harmonised product indication database and harmonised practice by using a common classification list.

The main deliverables for this project are as follows:

1. Creation of a common harmonised product indication database (phase 1)
2. Conceptualisation of the product indications (phase 1)
3. Creation of classification guidelines (phase 1)
4. Harmonised workflow to propose, modify or delete product indications (phase 2)
5. Creation of a Taxonomy for the harmonised product indications (phase 2)

The objective of this project is to define common guidelines for the graphic representation of a design which safeguard both the principle of legal certainty and the objective of having a flexible system of design registration available for SMEs. The following four topics will be part of the scope ( Neutral background,  Disclaimers, Type of Views and Format of Views).

The outcome of the project will be a new Common Practice that will be officially endorsed.

Following are the project deliverables:

• A document on the new Common Practice
• A document on the Common Communication informing on what  IP Offices will implement and when.
• A document on the Communication Strategy: what are the target audiences, what channels should we use to reach them and what is our key message.
• A document on the Implementation Strategy: once the common practice is defined, what steps does an Office need to undertake in order to implement this common practice.
• An analysis on how to follow up on the continuity of the Common Practice: the market constantly evolves and therefore we will need to be able to assure that the Common Practice evolves along.

The objective of this project is to harmonize the different interpretations of the scope of protection of trade marks exclusively in black, white and/or shades of grey (whether they cover any/all colours or not).

The outcome of the project will be a new Common Practice that will be officially endorsed.

Following are the project deliverables:

• A document on the new Common practice
• A document on the Communication Strategy: what are the target audiences, what channels should we use to reach them and what is our key message.
• A document on the Implementation Strategy: once the common practice is defined, what steps does an Office need to undertake in order to implement this common practice.
• An analysis on how to follow up on the continuity of the Common Practice: the market constantly evolves and therefore we will need to be able to assure that the Common Practice evolves along.

Also User Associations and non EU IP Offices are invited to be part of the working group as observers.

The objective of this project is to converge the different interpretations of the examination of absolute grounds for refusal as regards figurative trade marks with purely descriptive words / expressions.

The outcome of the project will be a new Common Practice that will be officially endorsed.

Following are the project deliverables:

• A document on the new Common practice
• A document on the Communication Strategy: what are the target audiences, what channels should we use to reach them and what is our key message.
• A document on the Implementation Strategy: once the common practice is defined, what steps does an Office need to undertake in order to implement this common practice.
• An analysis on how to follow up on the continuity of the Common Practice: the market constantly evolves and therefore we will need to be able to assure that the Common Practice evolves along.

All the Participating Offices have the intent to implement the Common Practice.

Also User Associations and non EU IP Offices are invited to be part of the working group as observers.

interpreted meaning exactly what they say. The 9 other National Offices understand that when applying for the class headings this covers for all of the goods and services of that class. The aim of the project is to find a compromise between these interpretations.

The project objectives are to:

• Develop a commonly acceptable set of comprehensive classification terms covering all goods and services in a given class at a given time
• Agree on a common implementation and communication strategy
• Analyse possible implications for the past

The vision of this project is in full alignment with OHIM's strategy plan and its ultimate goal to create a European Trademark & Design network.

The objective of this project is to harmonize the different interpretations on how to deal with non-distinctive/weak components of trade marks in the context of the examination of relative grounds for refusal (likelihood of confusion).

The outcome of the project will be a new Common Practice that will be officially endorsed.

Following are the project deliverables:

• A document on the new Common practice
• A document on the Communication Strategy: what are the target audiences, what channels should we use to reach them and what is our key message.
• A document on the Implementation Strategy: once the common practice is defined, what steps does an Office need to undertake in order to implement this common practice.
• An analysis on how to follow up on the continuity of the Common Practice: the market constantly evolves and therefore we will need to be able to assure that the Common Practice evolves along.

All the Participating Offices have the intent to implement the Common Practice.

Also User Associations and non EU IP Offices are invited to be part of the working group as observers.

In order to allow those users who are not part of the Working Group to become familiar with all the details of the common practice before its endorsement, the draft document on the Principles of the new common practice will be publicly available for comments from March 12^th until the 28th. Please submit your input to: ConvergenceProgramme@oami.europa.eu.

All comments will be closely reviewed and taken into account if the Working Group considers it relevant for the sake of the Project.