New EU commissioners for IP portfolios

Managing IP is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 4 Bouverie Street, London, EC4Y 8AX

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2025

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

New EU commissioners for IP portfolios

Elžbieta Bienkowska, formerly deputy prime minister of Poland, is to be the new EU Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SME Commissioner

bienkowska.jpg

Her nomination to the expanded directorate was announced today by President-elect Jean-Claude Juncker.

Her portfolio covers most of the work previously handled by the Enterprise and Industry and Internal Market and Services commissioners.

Notably, she will take over most IP matters from former Commissioner Michel Barnier of France, including oversight of OHIM and responsibility for the proposed trade mark reforms and the work on the Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court.

However, copyright work will fall under Commissioner Günther Oettinger of Germany, who is in charge of Communications Networks, Content and Technology.

The European Parliament now has to give its consent to the full College of Commissioners, following hearings in the relevant parliamentary committees.

more from across site and SHARED ros bottom lb

More from across our site

Leaders at the newly merged firm Jones Maxwell Smith & Davis reveal their plan to take on bigger firms while attracting more clients and talent
Charles Achkar, who will bring a team of two with him, said he was excited about joining ‘one of the few strong IP boutiques’
Andy Lee, head of IP at Brandsmiths and winner of the Soft IP Practitioner of the Year award, tells us why 2024 was a seminal year and why clients value brave advice
The deal to acquire MIP's parent company is expected to complete by the end of May 2025
Jinwon Chun discusses the need for vigilance, his love for iced coffee, and preparing for INTA
Karl Barnfather’s new patent practice will focus on protecting and enforcing tech innovations in the electronics, AI, and software industries
Partner Ranjini Acharya explains how her Federal Circuit debut resulted in her convincing the court to rule that machine learning technology was not patent-eligible
Paul Hastings and Smart & Biggar also won multiple awards, while Baker McKenzie picked up a significant prize
Burford Capital study finds that in-house lawyers have become more likely to monetise patents, but that their IP portfolios are still underutilised
Robert Reading and Faidon Zisis at Clarivate unpick some of the data surrounding music-related trademarks
Gift this article