Following the first series of high-level meetings with non-EU stakeholders, which took place in the first half of this year, the Office, over the period from 6 to 16 July, is meeting with the heads of non-EU IP offices.

As of 14 July 2021, the General Directorate of Intellectual Property of Honduras (DIGEPIH) will be included in TMclass.

TMclass offers users the opportunity to search for and translate goods and services to and from any of the 44 languages available as well as verifying the terms’ correct classification under the Nice classification (an international classification of goods and services applied for the registration of marks).

Geographical indications (GIs) are products whose qualities depend on the geographical place or region of production. Denominations such as ‘Roquefort’, ‘Cítricos Valencianos’, ‘Darjeeling tea’, ‘Sandia de Paine’ or ‘Limón de Pica’ underline an indissoluble link between the origin and quality of the product closely tied to the characteristics (climate, geography, production techniques, traditions) of its origin generating a value that is recognised by the public.

Earlier in June, the European Union (EU) organised under its intellectual property (IP) technical cooperation programme IP Key South-East Asia (SEA) the ‘Webinar Series on Plant Variety Protection and UPOV 1991’ to provide the public and private sectors in the EU and South East Asia with a platform to discuss the benefits for farmers and breeders of plant variety protection, the membership of countries to the 1991 Act of the UPOV Convention and the critical role of plant breeding in sustainable farming and global food security.