Nationalist MEP Therese Comodini Cachia is to become the first European Parliament member to sit on the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUPIO) management board as a full member.
Her nomination was endorsed by the Conference of Presidents. Dr Comodini Cachia will represent the EP on the board.
Reacting to her appointment, Dr Comodini Cachia said she was honoured to be the first MEP nominated for the task.
“This is an important EU Office as it facilitates the protection of innovation, creation and inventions.
“While unhindered access to content is to be facilitated we cannot refrain from offering protection to the creators of content.
“They deserve recognition of the product of their work. Innovation and creativity allows for competitiveness, economic growth and creation of job opportunities – and these need to be better protected encouraging further development.
“In a digital world nothing disheartens innovation and creativity than a system that fails to provide effective and efficient protection to Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)," she said.
The EUPIO is a decentralised EU agency responsible for managing the registration of the European Union trademark and the registered community design. It has been entrusted with the European Observatory on Infringements of IPR, which brings public and private stakeholders together in the fight against piracy and counterfeiting.
EUPIO also works with the IP offices of the EU states and international partners to offer a similar registration experience for trademarks and designs across Europe and the world.
Over the past months, Dr Comodini Cachia has worked extensively in the field of IPR.
She contributed to the report of the Legal Affairs Committee pushing for effective enforcement of IPR and calling for sound awareness campaigns on IPR especially among youth.
She has also served as rapporteur for the European People’s Party on a position paper dealing with legislation on IPR.
It is estimated that millions of Euros are lost by legitimate SMEs in Europe in various sectors due to infringements of IPR. This also leaves a drastic negative impact on thousands of jobs.
Today marks World Intellectual Property Day. The day is observed annually to promote discussion of the role of intellectual property in encouraging innovation and creativity.
This year’s chosen theme is Digital Creativity: Culture Reimagined.