The executive director of the EUIPO made waves earlier this year when he told Managing IP of his vision to secure a broader remit for the Alicante-based intellectual property office.
As the only EU-wide IP office, Archambeau said, the EUIPO was ideally placed to provide services related to geographical indications, domains, and supplementary protection certificates (SPCs).
A penny for the thoughts of the EPO, which might see any incursion from the EUIPO into patents or patent-adjacent rights such as SPCs as something of a land grab.
Archambeau insisted his relationship with EPO president António Campinos was nothing but warm.
But it is clear that Archambeau’s vision of a broader remit for the EUIPO touches upon what will probably be a lively, and at times, heated, debate on EU IP policy in the coming years.
Plans are afoot for a unitary SPC to follow the introduction of the unitary patent. But it’s still not clear who will administer such a right.
Based on his comments this year, Archambeau was more than willing to make a strong pitch for the EUIPO.
Since he gave that interview, we learned that Archambeau’s time at the EUIPO will come to an end next year. It emerged in November that the Management Board and Budget Committee decided not to renew his mandate.
But his influence may still be felt if his successor decides to take up his vision.
