The Hellenic Industrial Property Organisation (GR OBI) has recently gone live with the Back Office for Designs, tool developed under the framework of Cooperation Fund. The new system supports the complete lifecycle of industrial designs and facilitates application examination, recordals lifecycle as well as renewal and expiration automations.
Six intellectual property offices across the European Union are already using the Back Office, including the Finnish Patent and Registration Office (PRH) and the Polish Patent Office, which were pilot offices for the Back Office system and which have defined its core functionalities.
The overall aim of the Cooperation Fund is to benefit users across the EU by providing modern, state of the art tools and services for EU national and regional offices. Since it was set up in 2010, the Fund has created and developed IT solutions for use across the intellectual property landscape. Some tools support examiners, some are aimed at business and some have been built for the enforcement community. The Cooperation Fund´s tools provide a wealth of information on trade mark, design and classification issues.
The European Trade Mark and Design Network (ETMDN) connects national and regional intellectual property offices, user associations and other intellectual property organizations, which work together to achieve a true trademarks and industrial designs system in Europe. This means that common practices, services and tools are focused on the needs of intellectual property professionals and rights holders.
