World IP Day 2025 - The IP orchestra: how users compose the future of Intellectual Property

This World IP Day 2025, themed around music, innovation and creativity, is a powerful reminder that intellectual property is not only about protection – it is about creativity and impact. Music is a universal language – one that unites us, evokes deep emotion, and reflects our shared humanity. Whether through rhythm or lyrics, it relies on a strong framework of IP rights to ensure creators are recognised, respected and fairly rewarded for their work.

To support Europe’s rich cultural and creative sectors, the EUIPO is building a new “home” for copyright in the EU with the launch of the Copyright Knowledge Centre later this year. This Centre will consolidate ongoing EUIPO Observatory initiatives on piracy, education, and awareness, while gradually developing new actions.

Among the novelties, the EUIPO is launching a new web hub to offer tailored resources for young people, SMEs, and creators. But also, the Office will enhance copyright databases like the Out-of-Commerce Works Portal, analyse the links between copyright and generative AI and offer a mapping study on the copyright infrastructure.

At the EUIPO, we know that rhythm begins with our users. For 30 years, users have been at the heart of all we do. Listening to users is essential to the EUIPO’s strategic commitment to innovation. Under the Strategic Plan 2030 (SP2030), the EUIPO aims to improve the customer experience by delivering innovative IP products and services, as well as consistent, legally sound, predictable, and high-quality IP rights. In line with this direction, the first months of 2025 have already marked an ambitious chapter in the EUIPO’s path towards increased collaboration, transparency, and user-driven progress.

In the first few months of 2025, user engagement has intensified significantly across all fronts. From bilateral meetings and user group forums to tailored customer services and consultations, the systematic management of user feedback remains a cornerstone of the EUIPO’s success, and one of the main reasons why it is recognised as the most innovative IP office in the world.

To uphold and build on this reputation, the EUIPO has set ambitious strategic goals aimed at centralising all customer-related insights into a unified structure. This will support a transition to a ‘Total Experience Model’ - one that integrates both customer and staff perspectives to deliver a more personalised, efficient, and intuitive service journey for each user segment.

User interactions in 2025

In March and April, over 150 IP experts and more than 20 user associations came together to exchange ideas, debate trends like AI in IP, and contribute to the implementation of initiatives of the SP2030, such as the Virtual Communities, during the biannual User Group and Liaison Meetings. Additionally, the 5th User Focus Group meeting led by the Boards of Appeal brought together an additional 15 user associations to work towards a user-driven appeal system.

The Stakeholder Quality Assurance Panels (SQAPs) expanded to all areas of work of the Office. From the consultation on the Office Guidelines for examination of trade marks and designs to auditing cancellation decisions and assessing opposition decisions, bridging the gap between perceived and measured quality. And all in all, contributing to clarity in EU IP practice.

These ongoing engagements ensure that the EUIPO’s products, services, and the broader IP system stay agile and user-focused. The insights gained feed into innovative, forward-looking solutions that position the EUIPO as a global benchmark - shared widely through international cooperation across IP offices worldwide, strengthening the international IP landscape.

But the beat doesn’t stop there. The EUIPO’s dedication to users of the IP system expands to all types of customers, whether they are big filers or one-off filers and independent of their expertise on IP matters. Individual users of the IP system are other important providers of feedback on the quality of EUIPO services.

In March, a Customer Panel addressed the EUIPO’s pro-bono initiative for SMEs, and in May another panel will focus on EUIPO Mediation Centre’s alternative dispute resolution (ADR) services, gathering direct feedback on how to enhance these services. In April, the Customer Satisfaction Survey was also launched, allowing the Office to gather direct feedback and help identify areas for improvement.

Customer feedback reaches the EUIPO through multiple channels, via immediate feedback surveys and customer panels to telephone calls, emails, and live chats via the multilingual Information Centre. The Centre provides continuous, personalised guidance and real-time support of EUIPO services to current and potential customers, while gathering their feedback to ensure continuous improvement. In the first quarter of 2025, the Centre managed 50,933 interactions with customers, covering queries ranging from new applications and technical questions to the SME Fund – a grant scheme that provides (new) customers with reimbursable vouchers to save up to 90% on certain IP services.

While formal meetings and established feedback channels are vital, some of the most transformative conversations happen one-on-one. That’s why in 2025, the EUIPO has deepened bilateral relationships with key user associations, including ECTA and MARQUES, building further on the hundreds of bilateral meetings held with user associations last year. These tailored sessions cover a wide range of topics from technical procedures to the future of craft and industrial geographical indications (CIGIs) - the newest competency recently entrusted to the EUIPO.

Supporting Creative Industries on World IP Day

As this year’s World IP Day reminds us - just like in music - every voice matters. A shared rhythm emerges only when everyone plays their part. Co-creation is key: the EUIPO works hand-in-hand with users to shape processes, tools, and services from the start. By providing platforms for dialogue, enabling direct input into decisions and solutions, and ensuring transparency at every step, the EUIPO turns feedback into joint action. Every suggestion or idea becomes part of the collective mission to build a more resilient, fair and innovative IP system.

Engagement with craft and industrial GI producers - from Lauscha Glass to Belgian Pierre Bleue - is another example of how the EUIPO is giving Europe’s creators a voice, a platform, and the legal tools to thrive in the single market. As it prepares to officially manage the new EU CIGI system from 1 December 2025, user insights and local expertise are helping build a practical and inclusive registration process from the ground up.

World Intellectual Property Day is also the perfect occasion to thank all the users of the EU IP system for their trust, insight, and work done with us every day to shape the future of the IP landscape. You are the rhythm behind our innovation.

Happy World IP Day 2025!

Source: https://www.euipo.europa.eu/en/news/world-ip-day-2025-the-ip-orchestra-how-users-compose-the-future-of-intellectual-property