EUIPO Trade Mark Focus Report: 2010-2019 Evolution
This new report, showing the progressive success of the European Union trade mark (EUTM) over the last decade, builds upon and updates the first edition of the Trade Mark Focus Report published in 2018.
Nearly 1.27 million EUTM filings in over 3.4 million goods and services classes were filed from 2010 to 2019, which equates to an average annual growth rate of 5.6 % and an overall growth rate of 63.1 % when comparing the 2019 and 2010 filing volumes.
The commercial appeal of the European Union common market is highlighted by the presence of the world’s two largest economies (the United States of America and the People’s Republic of China) in the Top 10 ranking of countries with the most EUTM filings. The United States occupies second position overall and China has experienced remarkable growth that has vastly outpaced the other Top 10 countries. Indeed, the EU share of total filings fell from 71.3 % at the beginning of the decade to 64.7 % in 2019, while China evolved from being a small player in 2010 (1.4 %) to being the third largest country of origin by the end of the decade (9.5 %).
The Top 10 EUTM applicants are all large multinational enterprises and market leaders in their respective sectors. However, they collectively represent just 1.3 % of overall EUTM applications, or some 497 000 different applicants, the majority of which are small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Applications from the EU and other regions of the world seeking protection for electrical apparatus and computers and/or scientific and technological services experienced significant increases during the last decade, while filings for goods such as clothing, pharmaceutical, cosmetics and food grew at lower rates.
Detailed information on filing volumes and rates per top countries, applicants and classes are included in the report for analysis, as well as pertinent data on associated administrative procedures such as examination, publication, registration, opposition, cancellation and renewal.
EIB and City of Turin: Climate framework agreement
Wide-ranging cooperation over the next three years between the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the City of Turin for the implementation of projects combating climate change. That is the aim of the framework agreement signed today between the bank of the European Union and the capital of Piedmont, an agreement that marks the launch of an operating phase based on potential investment financing operations, technical assistance for such investments and cooperation for better use of EU structural funds. This is the EIB’s first climate agreement with an Italian city and the second in Europe. The Bank is committed to aligning all its financing activities with the climate goals of the Paris Agreement.
Specifically, the strategic sectors of collaboration will be in four key areas:
implementation of financial instruments supported by the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) in priority sectors for the development of cohesion policies, either concerning the closing phase of the current 2014-2020 programming period or in preparation for the imminent 2021-2027 programming period.
This broad collaboration will be applied on two levels once the projects have been identified together and evaluated positively. Level 1: the EIB operates as a financial institution, with all the advantages in terms of maturity and cost (low interest rates) that its funding makes available to the loan beneficiaries. Level 2: with a view to complementing EU structural funds, the EIB will play a technical and financial advisory role for projects promoted by the City of Turin, including via the implementation and management of financial instruments.
Innovation for the benefit of consumers: Opening remarks by Gabriel Bernardino at the European Forum for Innovation Facilitators (EFIF)
While there is growing acceptance of and appetite for innovation in financial services, it is essential that innovation always benefits consumers.
The EFIF brings together innovation facilitators from national competent authorities and representatives from the three European Supervisory Authorities (the European Banking Authority – the EBA; the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority – EIOPA; and the European Securities and Markets Authority – ESMA) with a view to fostering common supervisory responses to technological innovation in the financial sector.
This is the first event of the forum since EIOPA took over as chair on 1 May 2020. The event, open to national competent authorities addressed the role of FinTech in responding to the COVID-19 crisis, the impact of the crisis on the FinTech industry, as well as a more broader discussion on the role and tasks of the EFIF, in particular in light of forthcoming EU Digital Finance Strategy.
More information is available on the EFIF webpage, where a summary of this conference will be published in due course.
Announcement n◦ 3/2020 of the Community Plant Variety Office. Decision of the Administrative Council of the Community Plant Variety Office on test guidelines 06/03 and 21/04/2020
Technical examinations which are initiated or are to be approved by the Community Plant Variety Office must be performed in accordance with the test guidelines which have been adopted by the Administrative Council. Technical examinations started prior to the decision are not affected unless otherwise announced. The plant species concerned as well as the date of the decision are accordingly published in the Official Gazette of the Office. The technical protocol can be consulted through the website of the Office, or upon request can be transmitted by the Office. Technical questionnaires for the plant species called in question were amended accordingly. The technical questionnaires can be downloaded from the website, or upon request can be sent by the Office.
Decisions were taken in respect of the following plant species:
Avena sativa L.
Avena nuda L.
Brassica napus L. emend. Metzg.
Brassica oleracea L. var italica Plenck
Callistephus chinensis (L.) Nees
Capsicum annuum L.
Cucumis melo L.
Cynara cardunculus L.
Geranium L.
Guzmania Ruiz et Pav.
Lobelia alsinoides Lam.
Lobelia erinus L.
Lobelia valida L. Bolus
Hybrids between Lobelia erinus and Lobelia alsinoides
Hybrids between Lobelia erinus and Lobelia valida
Ribes uva-crispa L.
Portulaca grandiflora Hook
Portulaca oleracea L.
Portulaca umbraticola Kunth
Pisum sativum L.
Solanum lycopersicum L.
Solanum habrochaites S. Knapp & D.M. Spooner
Solanum lycopersicum L. x Solanum habrochaites S. Knapp & D.M. Spooner
Solanum lycopersicum L. x Solanum peruvianum (L.) Mill.
Solanum lycopersicum L. x Solanum cheesmaniae (L. Ridley) Fosberg
Solanum pimpinellifolium L. x Solanum habrochaites S. Knapp & D.M. Spooner
Spinacia oleracea L.
EIB to provide advisory support to three first-of-a-kind climate action projects
The European Investment Bank (EIB), one of the world’s largest providers of climate finance, today signed three agreements with leading European innovators to collaborate on the development and potential financing of new projects that address climate change. Under a partnership with the European Commission delivered through the InnovFin Advisory programme, the EIB will provide strategic financial advice and support to RenFuel (Sweden), Bioforever (Netherlands) and Magaldi (Italy) to help prepare their climate action projects for potential financing.
All three projects address climate change by developing innovative, first-of-a-kind demonstration plants:
RenFuel Lignolproduktion AB: A production plant for lignin oil (LIGNOL®) from lignin in black liquor from the pulp industry in Sweden. RenFuel’s plant plans to extract 70 000 tonnes of lignin, which will result in an annual production capacity of approximately 185 000 tonnes of LIGNOL®.
Magaldi Power: A first-of-a-kind plant based on a new solar thermal generation and storage concept in which a fluidised bed of sand generates green thermal or electrical power that is dispatchable on demand. The promoter is based in Italy and its demonstration project will be located in southern Europe.
Bioforever: A demonstration-scale wood-to-ethanol biorefinery in the Netherlands, with a capacity of 35 000 tonnes of wood waste, producing 8 000 tonnes of ethanol per year.
The promoters and the EIB, through InnovFin Advisory – a programme supported by the European Commission to advise companies on how to structure their projects in order to improve their access to finance – will work on bringing the projects to maturity. The EIB will provide extensive knowledge sharing to each promoter and help them navigate the financing schemes that exist within and beyond the EIB, in order to bring these types of project to life. The Bank offers numerous options for companies looking for funding, such as corporate loans, project finance or venture debt.
This Project Development Assistance (PDA) is available to project promoters to increase the investment readiness of projects in innovative renewable energy, carbon capture and storage (CCS), smart energy systems and storage. The funding for the PDA originates from the NER 300 programme, which was set up by pooling together around €2 billion of overall support for innovative low-carbon technology, focusing on the demonstration of environmentally safe CCS and innovative renewable energy technologies on a commercial scale within the EU.
Future similar innovative climate action projects will also have the opportunity of PDA support, which will combine financial advice with technical and operational support at relevant points in the cycle, under the upcoming Innovation Fund. The future Project Development Assistance will be available from 2021 onward.
“If we want to achieve our ambitious climate action targets we need highly innovative technologies and flagship projects with European value added that can bring about significant emission reductions. Our advisory services play a key role in structuring and maturing such innovative projects across all sectors to a stage where they become scalable and truly impactful. That is why I am very happy about today’s agreements,” said EIB Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle.
Clara De La Torre, Deputy Director-General for Climate Action, European Commission, said: “The European Green Deal puts great importance on supplying clean energy and channelling investments into innovation and clean-tech solutions to attain our ambitious climate goals. Now, with the EIB and the European Commission’s financial support, we can help scale up low-carbon technologies and facilitate the transition towards climate neutrality. These successful projects aim to demonstrate an effective pathway for doing so.”
RenFuel Lignolproduktion AB’s CEO and Chairman, Mats Odell, said: “We are proud to be able to build this first-of-a-kind large-scale production plant for 185 000 tonnes of LIGNOL®, for which production is planned to start in the second quarter of 2023, thanks to the support of the EIB NER 300 programme in partnership with the European Commission.”
Magaldi Power’s CEO Mario Magald, said: “We are extremely glad that the European Investment Bank chose to support Magaldi in the development of its innovative storage technology known as STEM. This collaboration will be a fundamental step forward in supporting our entrance into the market.”
Biofuel’s CEO Anton Robek, said: “Innovative first-of-a-kind projects typically have a high risk profile and therefore access to finance is a challenge. On top of that, the COVID-19 crisis forced several potential strategic partners to focus on impact mitigation. As a consequence, there is a risk that the commercialisation of innovative projects that will contribute to CO2 emission reductions may be seriously delayed. Therefore, the support of the EIB to explore extensive funding options is very much welcomed.”
Background information
InnovFin – EU Finance for Innovators
InnovFin – EU Finance for Innovators is a joint initiative launched by the European Investment Bank Group (EIB and EIF) in cooperation with the European Commission under Horizon 2020. InnovFin aims to facilitate and accelerate access to finance for innovative businesses and other innovative entities in Europe. Please click here for the products available under the InnovFin programme.
InnovFin Advisory assists eligible public and private counterparts to improve the bankability and investment readiness of large, complex, innovative projects that require substantial long-term investments.
The EIB’s Innovation Finance Advisory (IFA): IFA aims to improve the bankability and investment readiness of innovative or complex projects that require substantial long-term investments. It also provides advice to improve the investment conditions for access to risk finance for research, development and innovation (RDI) through horizontal activities.
Under Horizon 2020, the EU research and innovation programme for 2014-20, the European Commission and the European Investment Bank Group (EIB and EIF) launched the InnovFin programme, comprising a range of financial instruments and advisory services to help innovative firms access finance more easily. Innovative projects involving public and private partners need to be well prepared and structured before they can be presented to potential lenders and investors. IFA assists such priority projects in preparing a viable business plan, and advises them on the appropriate strategy, governance and financial structure.
IFA also reinforces the EIB’s catalytic role in offering financial solutions where public funds mobilise private capital.
NER 300 was one of the world’s largest funding programmes for innovative low-carbon energy demonstration projects. The programme was conceived as a catalyst for the demonstration of environmentally safe carbon capture and storage (CCS) and innovative renewable energy (RES) technologies on a commercial scale within the European Union.
The NER 300 programme was funded through the sale of 300 million emission allowances from the New Entrants’ Reserve (NER) set up for the third phase (2013-2020) of the EU emissions trading system. The revenues from the sales were allocated to projects selected through two calls for proposals awarded in December 2012 and in July 2014.
Thanks to the redeployment of unspent NER 300 funds, InnovFin will also feature a project development assistance (PDA) window. This PDA is a technical assistance facility providing non-refundable support to project developers in order to strengthen the financial structure and overall soundness of their applications.
RenFuel Lignolproduktion AB
RenFuel Lignolproduktion AB is an innovative Swedish biofuel production company that can contribute significantly to the fossil-free transport systems of the future through its product, LIGNOL®. The parent company RenFuel AB is a spin-off from a research group at Uppsala University (2012) that, with knowledge of green chemistry and biomass from forestry, developed a renewable, lignin-based bio-oil under the name LIGNOL®. LIGNOL® offers the advantage that, after being refined to fuel (gasoline, diesel, Jet A1) in a standard hydrotreater refinery, it can be mixed in today’s combustion engines to any degree. LIGNOL® is also very suitable for blending with aviation fuel.
Magaldi
Magaldi Power, with its headquarters in Italy, is the worldwide leader in the production of industrial plants for handling high-temperature materials for thermal power plants, cement industries, foundries and mining. Magaldi Power has installed its products and plants in 50 countries across five continents and holds 250 international patents. It has recently developed an innovative technology for energy storage called STEM. Its mission is to design, produce and commercialise systems of maximum reliability and quality components capable of providing eco-friendly industrial solutions around the world.
Bioforever
Horizon 2020 funded the BIOFOREVER project (www.bioforever.org), which ran for three years from September 2016 to the end of December 2019. It has successfully demonstrated that forestry residues and waste wood can be converted to wood-derived sugars with a performance comparable to dextrose (DE95) in various fermentation routes to renewable chemical building blocks. As a follow-up to the project, Bio Refinery Development BV (BRD) is developing a demonstration project to convert 35 000 tonnes of post-consumer waste wood to 8 000 tonnes of ethanol. The purpose of the demonstration plant is to optimise the price/performance of the feedstock input without jeopardising plant performance and product quality. This should facilitate the future scale-up to a large commercial plant
