Not everyone knows how useful the EUIPO Users Associations (UA) group is, but this request for a few minutes of your time shows how focused the UAs are.  The message we have received reads as follows:

CP1 & CP2 Benefit Analysis

Following several rounds of feedback with User Associations, the most recent being at the EUIPO Users Group Meeting in April, the benefit analysis questionnaires on the CP1 and CP2 convergence projects are ready to be circulated among users.

These questionnaires aim to evaluate how successful the CP1 and CP2 projects have been in fulfilling their objectives and, principally, to what extent they have delivered on the benefits to users that were identified at their outset: legal certainty; quality and usability; clarity and transparency; time and cost savings [all of which are of great interest and importance to those who depend on the services of the EUIPO as a means of protecting their investment by underpinning their commercial plans with a secure legal basis]. To do so, they are directed at practitioners whose regular work includes trade mark filing and/or opposition and cancellation proceedings. 

The timing of these questionnaires is particularly important. Three years have now has passed since the CP1 and CP2 projects were endorsed, which is sufficient time for their impact on trade mark classification practice to be felt. What’s more, the SP2020 cycle of convergence projects is now at the point of launch (see above news item). Therefore results of the benefit analysis will not only help to improve the approach of these projects, but will ensure that they target those benefits that are most relevant for users.

Below are the links to the questionnaires, which will be available until 30 July [this is not a hundred years from now -- it's just ten days away -- so don't delay!]:

• CP1 Benefit Analysis

• CP2 Benefit Analysis

The members of the User Associations are invited to submit responses to the questionnaires. All input received will contribute to improving the user experience and ensuring the success of future convergence initiatives.