ANDEMA and the Judicial School Meet to Strengthen IP Protection

The Association for Brand Protection (ANDEMA) and the Judicial School of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) met in Barcelona to continue advancing the protection of industrial property and combating trademark rights infringements, such as counterfeiting.

Gerard Guiu Ribé, Director of ANDEMA, and Clara Carulla Terricabras, Director of the Judicial School of the CGPJ, kicked off the academic year by laying the groundwork for collaboration between both institutions. This collaboration, framed by the existing agreement, includes the training of judges and magistrates on industrial property matters and providing support on related issues.

During the meeting, Guiu emphasized the urgent need to address the storage and destruction of counterfeit goods. “There is a pressing need to create or designate facilities for storing and destroying seized counterfeit items and to develop a rapid storage and destruction protocol, similar to that used in drug trafficking cases. Additionally, better coordination and efficiency are needed for conducting expert evidence and expediting trials. Currently, the burden of managing seized counterfeit goods falls on the brands themselves, which is both economically unsustainable and unreasonable,” Guiu stressed.

ANDEMA also reminded attendees that the association’s database, containing legal representatives for hundreds of brands, is available to all courts across Spain to facilitate communication with companies during operations involving potentially illegal materials.