We wish to inform ECTA members that Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) will soon be introduced for several EUIPN tools (EUIPN Portal, TMview and DesignView) as part of EUIPO’s efforts to strengthen account security and user protection.In addition to the existing username and password, users will be required to also enter a 6-digit code generated by an authenticator app, such as Microsoft Authenticator or Google Authenticator.MFA will be available on an optional basis from 12 September and will become mandatory from 30 November 2026. We therefore advise our members to activate it in advance, before it becomes mandatory.Please note that MFA is linked to each individual user account. Users should therefore access EUIPN tools using their own individual account, rather than shared credentials or common mailboxes.More information and FAQs are available here.For questions or if users need support, please contact customercare@euipo.europa.eu and/or +34 965 13 9100

This update is to help ECTA members and IP community at large stay informed about upcoming ECTA events and plan ahead. Registration links and further details will be shared via direct email communication in due course.If you are not a member and would like to receive updates on ECTA events and activities, please email ecta@ecta.org to be included on our mailing list.8 September 2026ECTA UPC Coffee by Patent Committee📍 Online Open to members only (the access link will always be available on the ECTA private site as no reminders will be sent)15-17 October 2026ECTA Autumn Meeting 📍  Porto, Portugal Open to ECTA Supervisory Board and Committee members only / Registration is open (link to register in the private site under ECTA Committee Meetings 2026)16 October 2026ECTA Workshop ‘Self-defence class: Protecting one's name, image and likeness’ 📍 Porto, Portugal Open to all - Register here (Supervisory Board and Committee members already registered for the Autumn Meeting do not need to register separately for the workshop)10 November 2026ECTA UPC Coffee by Patent Committee📍 Online Open to members only (the access link will always be available on the ECTA private site as no reminders will be sent)12 January 2027ECTA UPC Coffee by Patent Committee📍 Online Open to members only (the access link will always be available on the ECTA private site as no reminders will be sent)25 February 2027ECTA Round Table📍 Alicante, SpainMore information will follow.9 March 2027ECTA UPC Coffee by Patent Committee📍 Online Open to members only (the access link will always be available on the ECTA private site as no reminders will be sent)Spring 2027ECTA ®ETREAT📍 The Hague, The Netherlands In collaboration with Benelux Office for Intellectual PropertyMore information will follow.11 May 2027ECTA UPC Coffee by Patent Committee📍 Online Open to members only (the access link will always be available on the ECTA private site as no reminders will be sent)16-19 June 2025ECTA 45th Annual Conference "La Dolce IP" 📍  Sorrento (South of Italy)Registration open in November.13 July 2027ECTA UPC Coffee by Patent Committee📍 Online Open to members only (the access link will always be available on the ECTA private site as no reminders will be sent)

Register for the ECTA Workshop ‘Self-defence class: Protecting one's name, image and likeness’, taking place at Sheraton Hotel in Porto (Portugal) on 16 October 2026 from 16:00 to 18:00.The workshop will explore both prosecution and post-grant aspects and will feature representatives from the EUIPO Boards of Appeal, a judge of the IP and Competition Chamber of the Lisbon Court of Appeal, and experienced practitioners in this field. More details on the programme will be shared soon.The participation fee is:30,00 € (excl. VAT) for ECTA members not registered for the ECTA Autumn Meeting (Supervisory Board and Committee members already registered for the Autumn Meeting do not need to register separately for the workshop)50,00 € (excl. VAT) for non-membersThe workshop is free of charge for officials, full-time students, and full-time professors.A certificate of attendance will be provided upon request after the event.

By Vikrant Rana (ECTA WIPO-Link Committee and Design Committee member, S.S. Rana & Co., India)The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and Luiss Business School have released the third edition of the World Intangible Investment Highlights (WIIH) 2026, revealing that global investment in intangible assets, including R&D, software and data, brands, design, and organizational know-how- exceeded USD 10 trillion in 2025, an all-time high across the 29 economies covered, which together account for 57 percent of world GDP.Intangibles Outpace Physical InvestmentThe Report states that since 2008, intangible investment has grown at a compound annual rate of 3.5 percent in real terms i.e. 3.6 times faster than tangible investment (0.98 percent). It further provides that from 2015 to 2025 alone, intangible assets grew at 4.4 percent annually which was roughly 2.5 times the pace of physical investment.Notably, intangible investment has also proven more resilient to economic headwinds. Despite multi-decade-high interest rates, tighter financing conditions, and trade policy uncertainty, intangible investment across the EU, UK and US grew at 5.5 percent annually between 2020 and 2025, compared to 3.2 percent for tangible investment. The report attributes this to the nature of intangible assets: unlike debt-financed factories and machinery, firms continued investing in software, data, R&D and organizational capital even through the rate-hike cycle.Intangible investment now represents 12.8 percent of GDP across the sample economies, exceeding the tangible share of 11.8 percent. Of all economies, Sweden remains the most intangible-intensive economy (17.4 percent of GDP), followed by the US (15.6 percent) and France (15.2 percent).Special Theme: Brands as a Trillion-Dollar Asset ClassThis year's special theme examines brands as strategic assets. Brand investment across sample economies reached USD 1.4 trillion in 2025, growing at 4.2 percent annually since 2015. The US leads by a wide margin (USD 566 billion), more than four times second-ranked UK (USD 137 billion), followed by Japan, Germany and Brazil.The report underscores that brands have become more valuable than ever in the AI era: as AI-generated content proliferates, trusted brands serve as rare signals of authenticity and provenance. At the same time, the report cautions that the same technologies amplify brand risks, such as- deepfakes and synthetic media can impersonate brands and fabricate endorsements which elevates the importance of robust brand protection strategies.Significantly, brand investment remains a "current cost" in national accounts following the UN Statistical Commission's 2025 SNA revision, meaning it forms part of the roughly 62 percent of intangible investment that goes unmeasured in official statistics, a measurement gap the WIPO–LBS partnership seeks to bridge.AI Reshaping the Intangible EconomyThe report updates its analysis of the AI–intangibles nexus. While most AI spending continues to flow into physical infrastructure, with the US accounting for roughly 62 percent of global private AI-related capital expenditure and 76 percent of global AI infrastructure spending in 2025- the lasting economic impact of AI is expected to come from the intangible assets built on top of it.Software and databases remain the fastest-growing intangible category (7.3 percent annually, 2013–2023), and the report predicts AI will lift investment across all intangible asset types: from organizational capital (as firms rebuild processes around AI) and R&D (as AI compresses discovery cycles) to brands (as guarantees of authenticity) and employer training (as continuous reskilling becomes permanent).Here are 10 key highlights from the WIIH 2026:Intangible investment crossed USD 10 trillion in 2025;Intangibles are growing 3.6 times faster than tangible investment;Intangible investment is more resilient to economic shocks;Intangibles now account for a bigger share of GDP than physical capital;At nearly USD 5 trillion in 2025 (around six times Japan's level), the US accounts for close to half of all intangible investment captured;AI is reviving tangible investment, but narrowly;Software and databases are the fastest-growing intangible asset;Around 62 percent of intangible investment goes unmeasured in official statistics;Brands are a trillion-dollar asset class;Brands matter more than ever in the AI era, but face new risks.The message from the WIIH 2026 is fairly straightforward- the global economy is now being shaped more by what firms know, build and brand than by what they physically own. As AI accelerates this shift, businesses that recognize the value of their intangible assets early, and take steps to protect them, will be the ones best placed to compete in the years ahead.Source: WIPO and Luiss Business School, World Intangible Investment Highlights 2026 (July 2026), WIPO Publication No. 1097EN/26, available at wipo.int. The electronic version of the WIIH 2026 is available here.-----The views expressed are those of our members and not necessarily of ECTA as an association. The content has not been subjected to a verification process, the accuracy of the information contained in the article is responsibility of the author.