The European Parliament has approved a plan to move the Observatory on Counterfeiting and Piracy to OHIM in Alicante.
In a vote yesterday, it also decided to change the name to the European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights.
The Observatory will collect and analyse data on IP rights and infringement. Speaking last week, Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier said its priority should be to "understand, explain and act".
The EU Council must now vote on the proposal, but its approval is a formality. The Observatory will probably move to Alicante towards the middle of this year.
Interviewed in Managing IP last year, OHIM President António Campinos welcomed the proposal to give more responsibility to the Office, whose main function is the examination and registration of Community trade marks and designs.
"Europe should have an IP office," he said, adding that OHIM could cover "everything in IP but patents". "If the Parliament, Commission and member states would like us to do more or do better what we do then we should be ready to listen."
But some observers have expressed concern that the Office may be taking on too much responsibility, and warned that it needs to ensure it has enough qualified staff to cope with any additional work.