Successful Regional Industrial Design Conference has been completed in the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office

A successful Regional Industrial Design Conference was organised by the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office (HIPO) in cooperation with the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Budapest, on 2 and 3 October 2013.

The Conference fitted in with the 10th Design Week Budapest, the most prestigious event of the Hungarian design community. It covered the topics of design protection and design promotion to enhance innovation.

The Conference featured besides the President of HIPO, Mr Miklós Bendzsel, prominent speakers such as Mr António Campinos, President of OHIM, Mrs Biserka Strel, Head of the Section for Central European and Baltic States and Mediterranean Countries, WIPO or Mr Téophile Margellos, President of the Boards of Appeal of OHIM.

The participants of the two-days conference could hear presentations about the work performed by the OHIM and the WIPO concerning design protection and promotion, about the initiatives intended to raise awareness of design as a driver of innovation in Europe and about the Hungarian national and international design protection systems, including the planned Design Law Treaty currently under negotiation in WIPO.  

In his speech Mr António Campinos, President of OHIM presented the study Intellectual Property Rights intensive industries: contribution to economic performance and employment in Europe, which was carried out jointly by the European Patent Office and the OHIM with the assistance of the European Commission, and was presented on 30 September 2013. The study includes information on the IPR-intensive industries and their contribution to economic performance and employment at EU level and an analysis at Member State level. He emphasized that in Hungary the IPR-intensive industries show an above-average weight in the economy: they contribute 45,1% of the GDP and 27,2% of employment.

Mr Téophile Margellos, President of the Boards of Appeal of OHIM presented the legal practice of the OHIM regarding Community Designs through the case law of the Boards of Appeal of the OHIM. He presented several examples from case law in connection with appreciation of the individual character of a design, the concept of "informed user" according to the Council Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 on Community designs, and supported his speech with relevant practical examples.

The detailed programme and the presentations of the Conference can be downloaded here.

15 March 2013