The USPTO and the European Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) have a long history of cooperation regarding industrial designs and trademarks. The two offices have actively continued this collaboration by recognizing and addressing the unique challenges faced by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in intellectual property–intensive industries in both the U.S. and Europe. In 2024, the USPTO and EUIPO collaborated on educational programming related to industrial design for our users in the U.S. and throughout the Europe Union (EU).
These programs focused on the importance of protecting industrial designs for SMEs doing business in the U.S. or the EU, including:
- How to identify a business’s protectable designs
- The industrial design patent processes in both the U.S. and the EU
- The technical requirements for design protection in each region, and
- Resources available to help navigate the industrial design systems in the U.S. and the EU.
Program resources
The programs were recorded and can be found in the links below: