Since 2018 the EUIPO (The European Union Intellectual Property Office responsible for managing the EU trade mark and the registered Community design) is organising a training program – called Trade Mark and Design Education Programme (ETMD EP).
The EUIPO Trade Mark and Design Education Programme (ETMD EP) is a training programme for intellectual property practitioners. The EUIPO Trade Mark and Design Education Programme is specially designed to accommodate the training needs of intellectual property practitioners dealing with the registration and prosecution of European Union trade marks and Community designs.
The program has a comprehensive curriculum of approximately of 150 hours of tuition. It covers proceedings before the EUIPO, the Court of Justice of the European Union and other selected IP issues.
The Programme aims to improve the participants’ competencies in the following:
- determining the correct sources of EU trade mark and Community design law to be applied to specific cases;
- presenting cases without procedural errors and with well-structured evidence;
- selecting appropriate types of trade mark according to the needs of the clients;
- preparing high-quality trade mark applications;
- identifying all potential absolute grounds for refusal;
- drafting effective responses to trade mark objection letters;
- effectively attacking or defending EUTMs on absolute and relative grounds for refusal;
- effective dispute resolution before the Boards of Appeal;
- managing the procedural issues arising during opposition, invalidity and appeal proceedings;
- filing a request for annulment before the General Court;
- understanding the system of judicial review before the Court of Justice;
- managing entries and amendments in the EUIPO Register;
- preparing high-quality design applications;
- identifying all potential grounds for Community design invalidity;
- drafting effective responses to Community design objection letters;
- effectively attacking or defending Community designs on grounds for invalidity.
The admission requirements are the candidate to be a professional representative admitted and entered on the lists maintained by the EUIPO pursuant to Article 120(1)(b) EUTMR and Article 78(1)(b) CDR or a legal practitioner qualified in a Member State of the European Economic Area (EEA) and having their place of business within the EEA, to the extent that they are entitled, within the EEA, to act as a representative in trade mark matters.
Ms. Aglika Ivanova – a partner in IP Consulting is a qualified European Trade Mark and design attorney (a professional representative admitted and entered on the lists maintained by the EUIPO pursuant to Article 120(1)(b) EUTMR and Article 78(1)(b) CDR).
She has successfully passed the first EUIPO Trade Mark and Design Education Programme (ETMD EP) which started in September 2018 and ended in June 2019.
The program ended with a two stage exam – a written and an oral exam, held in the EUIPO headquarters in Alicante. By passing successfully both exams Ms. Aglika Ivanova has become the first European Trade Mark and Design Attorney from Bulgaria to receive her certificate from the EUIPO’s training program.
