Identified as key to the EU’s growth, innovation and competitiveness, the EU Council of Minister, composed of government representatives of the twenty-seven EU member states, amongst which Malta, have adopted an EU Regulation that empowers the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM) to address intellectual property right infringements. With Malta among the participants, OHIM will be setting up a European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights that will bring together public and private sector representatives.
To date, OHIM is the office administering the Community trademark (CTM) and the registered Community design that are essential components of the European single market accessible to property right holders established in an EU member state, including Malta. Through a single application, these registrations provide IP protection across the 27 countries with a market of almost 500 million people.
As highlighted in the ongoing debate on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), the most conservative estimates of the size of the global counterfeiting and piracy industry put it at US $250 billion annually.
