From 18-22 May, the International Trademark Association (INTA) annual conference will take place in Atlanta. Founded in 1887, INTA is a global association of trademark owners and IP professionals. More than 6,400 organizations from 181 countries represent nearly 36,000 professionals, including trademark owners from large corporations, small and medium-sized businesses, law firms and nonprofit organizations.

On behalf of V.O., Raquel Alvarez, Annelies de Bosch Kemper, and Jasper Groot Koerkamp will attend the conference.

BioPark Regensburg GmbH has launched the new funding project BioPark Jump to specifically support innovative ideas in the field of healthcare and life sciences in Regensburg. Furthermore, BioPark Jump offers co-working spaces, private offices and laboratory rooms, as well as individual coaching and advice from experts from the relevant sectors. The Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs is initially funding the project for three years. It is possible to apply for the funding program at any time. More information can be found at www.biopark-jump.de.

The annual innovation competitions of several Dutch universities have recently started up again: the TU Delft Impact Contest, the TU/e Contest, the Erasmus University Contest and the UT Entrepreneurial Challenge. Between March and June, participating student teams go through a number of exciting rounds to compete for a place on the podium during the Grand Finale. V.O. has sponsored these competitions for many years and further contributes to them by imparting IP knowledge to the students and thus making them more aware of the commercial potential of their inventions.

More information can be found on our website.

Since 1 November 2023, the European Patent Office (EPO) has abolished the so-called "ten-day rule”. According to that rule, a letter sent by the EPO was deemed to be delivered ten days after its date, which allowed the deadline for reply to be extended by ten days.

As of 1 November, however, the date indicated on the letter is considered the delivery date and thus there is no longer a 10-day grace period for reply deadlines. This 10-day grace period was still sometimes relied upon in order to be able to submit a reply on time, but the abolition of the rule means that this is no longer possible!

V.O. is incredibly proud to be in the prizes at Managing IP Awards again this year. On 11 April, Annemiek Tepper, Martin Klok and Henri van Kalkerenreceived the NL Patent Prosecution Firm of the Year, NL Practitioner of the Year and European Cross-border Patent Litigation Team of the Year awards in London.

The Managing IP Awards program is among the most comprehensive and internationally widely respected IP Law Firm Awards events. The prestigious awards are given annually based on information gathered from thousands of IP firms, professionals and their clients through interviews, email and online surveys.

The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the European Commission have launched the 2024 edition of the Ideas Powered for Business SME Fund, which offers intellectual property vouchers to EU-based small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The 2024 SME Fund follows the resounding success of the 2023 edition of the fund, which received more than 35,000 applications. It runs from 22 January to 13 December 2024. For more information.

See www.euipo.europa.eu/en/discover-ip/sme-fund