ECTA, which was formed in 1980, numbers approximately 1.300 members, coming from all the Member States of the European Union with associate members from all over the world. It brings together all those persons dealing professionally with trade marks in the Member States of the European Union. These professionals are lawyers, trade mark advisors, trade mark attorneys, in-house counsel and others who can be considered specialist practitioners in these areas. One of ECTA's most important assets is the talented and committed group of volunteers who serve on its Committees.

ECTA has also created strong ties with several academic institutions and its members serve as teachers and lecturers in many instances all over Europe and elsewhere. Vice versa, academics, being themselves members of ECTA, often join ECTA to give presentations on new developments in trade mark law in Europe and all over the world.

In order to further strengthen the co-operation and exchange with academics, ECTA has decided to grant an Award to an individual who has written an article or an essay of importance for the development of European trade mark law, design law, copyright law or geographical indications law.

The Award would be granted from time to time, when found grounded, and it carries the name of the association, namely ECTA AWARD.


AWARD CRITERIA
Many jurisdictions in Europe have varying traditions of intellectual property law that are often distinctively associated with and shaped by a variety of country-specific factors, including different legal frameworks, especially with regard to procedural law, regulatory and economic circumstances of those countries, among others.

The diverse character and makeup of its international membership and its strong link to many European Institutions makes ECTA uniquely suited among associations to foster and encourage further academic research and examination of intellectual property law in different European countries.

In support of this goal, ECTA considered the merits associated with such an Award and believes the following criteria for the ECTA AWARD are most consistent with the ECTA mission.

STUDENT CATEGORY
To qualify for this award, the trade mark lawyer student or graduate and/or non-lawyer trade mark student or graduate must:
- be enrolled as either part-time or graduate student, or graduate in law or an equivalent or related subject;
- write a substantive paper on European trade mark law, design law, copyright law, geographical indications law (i.e. related for instance to cross border issues etc.);
- attach an enrolment certificate for the academic year 2023-2024;
- attach a brief CV.

Such paper:
- may be published, wherein any publication date may not be older than two years prior to the deadline to submit papers;
- must contain original thoughts of the author and can be co-authored;
- must be written in English or, if the paper is written in any other European official language, must be translated into English.

PROFESSIONAL CATEGORY
To qualify for this award, the trade mark lawyer and/or non-lawyer trade mark practitioner must:
- not be a student;
- write a substantive paper on European trade mark law, design law, copyright law, geographical indications law (i.e. related for instance to cross border issues etc.);
- attach a brief CV.

Such paper:
- must be published, wherein any publication date may not be older than two years prior to the deadline to submit papers;
- must contain original thoughts of the author and can be co-authored;
- must be written in English or, if the paper is written in any other European official language, must be translated into English
- may be co-authored with a student.

PRIZE
For each category one winner paper will be selected. The winners will receive a monetary prize of 1,000 EUR and 18 months of complimentary ECTA membership. They will be honoured by ECTA President at the Award ceremony during the ECTA Annual Conference (19-21 June 2024 Antwerp, Belgium) and invited to the Gala Dinner.

Furthermore,
- an interview with the winners will be featured in the October 2024 edition of the ECTA Bulletin;
- the winning papers will be published on the ECTA website;
- the winning paper in the student category (only) will also be published in the Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice by Oxford University Press. (The publication of the paper is subject to the final decision of the editors of the JIPLP.)


JUDGING CRITERIA
Papers will be judged by the Professional Affairs and Membership Committee of ECTA with the support of other ECTA Committees, subject to approval by the ECTA Board of Directors.

Papers will be judged according to the following criteria:

1. Extent of research done,
2. Breadth and timeliness of subjects,
3. Cross-border aspects,
4. Enhancement of European trade mark law, design law, copyright law, or geographical indications law,
5. Relationship to the Common Market,
6. Quality of writing,
7. Originality of the subject and ideas.

The winning papers will be published on the ECTA website. Please note that by submitting a paper, it is considered that you consent to having your paper and name published on the ECTA website and other ECTA publications and communication channels, if you are selected as a winner.

A winner of an ECTA Award may not participate in the competition in the year immediately following the year in which they won the Award. There should be a gap of one year before they may enter the competition again, but the paper submitted in the gap year may be taken into consideration for the ECTA Award in the subsequent year.

Deadline for submission: 28 February 2024