Boards of Appeal

The Boards of Appeal are responsible for deciding on appeals against first instance decisions taken by the EUIPO concerning European Union trade marks and registered Community designs. The decisions of the Boards are, in turn, liable to actions before the General Court, whose judgments are subject to a right to appeal to the Court of Justice of the European Union (EU) on points of law. The Boards of Appeal are independent and, in deciding a case, are not bound by any instructions.

Regulation

The Boards of Appeal are governed by the EUTMDR. It applies to the administration of appeals under both Trade Mark and Design Regulations.

Presidium

The Presidium is responsible for the rules and organisation of the Boards of Appeal, including the allocation of Members to the specific Boards and the specification of rules for the allocation of cases to the Boards. It is composed of the President of the Boards of Appeal, who chairs it, as well as the Chairpersons of the Boards and Members elected for each calendar year by all the Members of the Boards (excluding the President and the chairpersons of the Boards of Appeal).

This is decided on every year by the Presidium. The Boards of Appeal consist presently of four Boards exclusively dealing with trade mark cases and one that deals with design cases. Additionally, the Grand Board may hear any case with respect to trade marks and designs.

Decisions of the Presidium

Members of the Boards of Appeal

The President of the Boards of Appeal is appointed by the Council of the European Union. The President has managerial and organisational powers and chairs the Presidium and the Grand Board of Appeal. The chairpersons of the Boards of Appeal are also appointed by the Council of the European Union. They have managerial and organisational responsibility for their respective Boards and are responsible for appointing the Rapporteur in each appeal case. The Members of the Boards of Appeal are appointed by the Management Board of the Office.

Boards of Appeal Action Plan 2021-2026

Delivering a high-quality trade mark and design service to businesses seeking protection for the results of their investments in innovation is essential and something that the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) aspires to. In this respect, by providing an independent, effective, and professional means of dispute resolution, the Boards of Appeal (BoA) play a key role within the IP system.

In this context, the BoA Action Plan 2021-2026 is an internal roadmap, establishing the direction the Boards will take in the next years, how they will tackle their challenges ahead and above all how they will contribute to the SP2025. In that sense, the Plan aims to further develop the BoA’s operations by presenting a series of initiatives to be launched in the next 5 years towards the implementation of a renewed Vision for the Boards of Appeal as a high quality, effective, coherent, and modern Intellectual Property Dispute Resolution Body.

The Action plan aims to:

• Ensure that the Boards of Appeal are able to cope with a growing number of ever more complex appeal cases, and deliver high-quality decisions in a timely manner, for the benefit of its user.
• Improve quality by developing a more consistent and coherent decisional practice further aligned with the case-law of the GC and CJEU, in order to provide users with higher levels of predictability and legal certainty as regards the overall work of the EUIPO.
• Focus on delivering high-quality decisions in a timely manner while being accountable to public scrutiny. In this regard, an additional challenge refers to the need to increase transparency and ensure accountability in all BoA activities.
• Contribute to enhancing and broadening the use of alternative dispute resolution at the EUIPO, in order to offer the parties suitable mechanisms and tools for finding expert and rapid solutions to their conflicts at an early stage, as a means of support to businesses, particularly SMEs.
• Collaborate with external partners, such as Appeal Bodies of national IP offices, European and National courts, and user associations, in order to facilitate a continuous exchange of expertise and knowledge, as well as, the further expansion of Common Practices in the areas of trade marks and designs.

Within the context of these goals, the Action Plan is structured around 5 Focus Areas and 19 interconnected Key Initiatives for actions to be implemented in close cooperation with internal and external partners.