Representatives and industry associations have few problems with the directive proposal on moving the Observatory to OHIM, which was published in advance of the Commission's announcement on its IP strategy.
In places, though, the wording is rather worrying in its vagueness, which seems symptomatic of the plans so far.
"The proposal says that representatives of brand owners will provide data and information on counterfeit products. Well, we're unlikely to have that data, not being brand owners ourselves, and much of it our members wouldn't hand over to us as it's very sensitive," says Dawn Franklin of AIM.
There is little detail on how the Observatory will be managed under OHIM. "Stakeholders want to know that the Commission will still be involved and that the process will still be as transparent. So far, there have been no reassurances on that," said Lisa Peets of Covington & Burling - who, as a member of one of the expert groups looking at changes to the Enforcement Directive, is part of the Observatory.
Other than securing more money and resources for the Observatory, there have been few reasons given for moving it to OHIM. "We had hoped that we might get to go to Alicante for meetings, but apparently they will still be held in Brussels," said Peets.
Synergies will be few between a registry and a consultative body, except perhaps in the area of data sharing.
"But even here the proposals are unrealistic. They seem to think that the brand owners will hand over information to national offices like covert markings used to identify genuine product," said Franklin. "That's not going to happen."
At worst, having the Observatory at OHIM will add a layer of bureaucracy to a system that is working quite well. At best, it will provide greater funding - but that is hardly uncontroversial.
Most users of the trade mark system do not have a substantial counterfeit problem, yet their excess fees will now be used to fund the Observatory's actions. Smaller companies could probably do with costs being lowered instead.
"If excess money is going to be spent somewhere, it should go to Customs officials to give them greater resources or to try and reduce the costs of enforcement," said Franklin.
The directive proposal was one of 19 initiatives that formed the European Commission's recent IPR strategy.
In a recent interview with Managing IP, OHIM President António Campinos welcomed the opportunity for the Office to take on more responsibility.
