• Intellectual Property. Intellectual property is the exclusive rights over intellectual creations. It is broken down into two parts: industrial property, including inventions (patents), trade marks, drawings and industrial designs and geographical indications; and copyrights that involve literary and artistic creations. The European Union has carried out an active policy to harmonise legislation on this topic in all member states. TheTreaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which entered in force in 2009, provides explicit competence to the European Union over Intellectual Property rights.

• Intellectual Property rights are still protected mainly by national legislation. However, if you need to protect them in each of the member states can be complex and expensive, and therefore in order to save time and money you can use intellectual protection at European level.

• If you are thinking of doing business with more than an EU country, the European Union trade mark, drawing or community model provide protection in 28 member states with only one registration. You can register your trade mark, drawing or design in any of the 23 European Union languages by submitting only one application to the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO).

• Intellectual Property can be protected by Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) established by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). The protection of these rights depends on the type of Intellectual Property we are dealing with. Let’s take a glance to the alternatives:



• Patents prevent third parties to manufacture, use or sell anybody’s invention during a certain period of time, depending on the type of invention. In the framework of the European Patents Convention, patents are awarded to those inventions that are new and can be industrially applied. To this end, it is a requirement that these inventions were not known before and that they can be manufactured or use in industrial processes.

For national patents you can apply to your national patent office, whereas the European Patent must be processed by the European Patent Office (EPO). However, European Patents must be validated in each country where you are seeking protection. Depending on national legislation, you as business promoter might be obliged to provide with translations and / or paying fees in specific countries.

Currently, efforts are being made to implementing a unitary patent protection European wide. This will enable inventors to protect their inventions in the European Union by submitting a single patent application, thus, there will be no need to validate that patent in each individual member state.



• Trade marks protect product names as they prevent other businesses from selling products with the same name. Trade marks are signs used in trade to identify products. In relation to Intellectual Property, trade marks are a small element but very useful. Council Regulation (EC) No 207/2009 of 26 February 2009 on the European Union trade mark offers the following definition for a trade mark:

An EU trade mark may consist of any signs, in particular words, including personal names, or designs, letters, numerals, colours, the shape of goods or of the packaging of goods, or sounds, provided that such signs are capable of:

o distinguishing the goods or services of one undertaking from those of other undertakings; and

o being represented on the Register of European Union trade marks in a manner which enables the competent authorities and the public to determine the clear and precise subject matter of the protection afforded to its proprietor.



• In practice, it means your trade mark is the symbol your customers use to pick you out. It is also convenient to differentiate you from your competitors. In some countries, you can also get protection even if your trade mark is not registered, as long as it is used. However, you are well advised to register it in order to obtain the best protection. The only condition imposed on a registered trade mark is that it must be clearly defined; otherwise neither you nor your competitors will be certain of what it covers.



• Copyright informs others that you (as the author) intend to control the production, distribution, display or performance of your work. Copyright is granted automatically, with no need for formal registration. You can start using the copyright symbol immediately. Nevertheless, in most countries there is a register system and optional deposit for your works. These systems in place facilitate, for instance, clarifications on controversies related to ownership, creation, financial transactions, selling and right transfers.

• In legal terms, Copyright, or author’s right, describes the rights that creators have over their literary and artistic works. Works covered by copyright range from books, music, paintings, sculpture, and films, to computer programs, databases, advertisements, maps, and technical drawings.

• Exhaustive lists of works covered by copyright are usually not to be found in legislation. Nonetheless, broadly speaking, works commonly protected by copyright throughout the world include:

o literary works such as novels, poems, plays, reference works, newspaper articles;

o computer programs, databases;

o films, musical compositions, and choreography;

o artistic works such as paintings, drawings, photographs, and sculpture;

o architecture; and

o advertisements, maps, and technical drawings

Copyright protection extends only to expressions, and not to ideas, procedures, methods of operation or mathematical concepts as such. Copyright may or may not be available for a number of objects such as titles, slogans, or logos, depending on whether they contain sufficient authorship.

Currently, as part of the Single Digital Market, the European Union aims to improve the framework for European Copyright, boosting therefore, the provision of digital content. This is paramount for creative and cultural industries as they will have an easier access to cross-border internal markets within the EU. Please, have a look to the training fiche on Single Digital Market and ecommerce.

• Design. In business, design is crucial for success. Great design focuses on the user, combines aesthetic, economic and practical values and is the way your customers identify innovative brilliance. In Europe, there is a recognised need to encourage European designers and European businesses to develop their design strategies. A design is a practical way to define and protect your innovation. It is indeed, a company asset that can be traded or used as collateral, that rewards your creative effort, that acts as your IP signature.

• Designs are well defined in the European Union: «The appearance of the whole or a part of a product resulting from the features of, in particular, the lines, contours, colours, shape, texture and/or materials of the product itself and/or its ornamentation » (Article 3 of the Design Regulation). Almost any industrial or handicraft item can be eligible for design protection (except for computer programs).

(https://euipo.europa.eu/ohimportal/en/web/guest/design-definition)



• Geographical indication is a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin. (Art. 22.1 from TRIPS) Traditionally, Geographical Indication is being used for agricultural products. However, in 2014, a public consultation by the EU was launched to extend this type of protection to non-agricultural products, such as handcrafts. There has already been a report on this issue by the European Parliament in 2015 and its endorsement is expected shortly.