MARQUES has learned that its friends at the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM) are organising their first EDB Forum for companies and enforcement authorities, on 8 and 9 September at the OHIM headquarters in Alicante. What? You don't know what EDB stands for! Nor did this blogger till he did a little rooting around online and discovered that it stands for "Enforcement Database". Ah, now everything makes sense ...

The EDB Forum provides a unique opportunity for companies to

• Meet enforcers from the 28 Member States of the EU
• Share experiences with other companies in the same commercial or industrial sector
• Discuss the latest enforcement trends with enforcers and companies alike

What else does the conference offer?

• Parallel workshops by economic sector for right holders to present enforcers of the 28 Member States with the problems they face
• An exhibition for companies to show enforcers how their genuine products should be identified with the help of EDB
• Meeting areas for one-to-one discussions between right holders and enforcers
• Training sessions on EDB to help with keying-in of data

Take a look at the outline of the attached agenda here. The working language of the event is English.

Participation is free for enforcement authorities and right holders -- so long as the latter have an account in the EDB and at least one product created in their portfolio.  A final selection of participants will be made on a quota basis by type of company and industry sector.

The deadline for registration is 30 June [which is very soon]. For right holders we will reserve places for current EDB users until 19 June [which is even sooner!]. After that, participation will be on a first-come first-served basis and a selection will be made according to the quotas by type of companies and industry sectors. 

To register, click here.

************************************************************************

For more information on the EDB and to request an account in this free tool, click here

 For any questions, do not hesitate to contact the organisers at observatory.edb@oami.europa.eu