After almost two years, my role as the chairman of the BMM has come to an end. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to achieve all the goals I have set. The recurring theme in my work has always been recognition. Recognition that intellectual property rights are crucial for the existence of businesses. But also recognition that BMM members, including IP lawyers, in-house lawyers, and BMM-recognized trademark and design attorneys are specialists. This is all the more important in order to be able to separate the wheat from the chaff, especially given the many crooks that seem to pop up constantly.
Although there is still no official register for trademark- and design attorneys, I sincerely hope that businesses and institutions will realize the necessity of working with specialists. BMM members guarantee a high-quality performance of their work, whether they’re an IP lawyer or a BMM-recognized trademark attorney.
The fact that anyone working today as a librarian or a car dealer, can promote themselves tomorrow as a trademark attorney and have themselves registered with the official authorities is simply not in anyone’s best interest, especially for small and medium-sized businesses. It also harms the position of the IP profession in general. Therefore, recognition remains an important issue today, as well as for the future.
Recognition of our profession can only happen if we as companies provide our employees with the space to be who they are. Inclusivity is a hot topic now and I hope that we, as the BMM and as individual members, can create the right conditions so that our employees feel safe, regardless of their nationality, language, religion, skin colour, gender, or sexual orientation.
I am pleased to hand over the BMM chairman’s position to Francois Uyttenhove, knowing that he has a great and skilled team surrounding him. I am excited to see how he will reach and shape the objectives of our organisation. I want to thank everyone for the trust they’ve given me and for the wonderful collaboration over the past years. I hereby hand over the chairman’s hammer.
(Final speech as BMM chairman on March 23, 2023)
