OHIM

Paul Maier

President of the Boards of Appeal

Paul Maier was born in Strasbourg (France) in 1958. He graduated from the Institute for Political Sciences and the Faculty of Law of Strasbourg and the College of Europe in Bruges (Belgium). He worked as counsel for various trade associations and private companies from 1983 to 1987 when he became an EC civil servant in the EC Commission. From 1990 to 1995 he worked in the field of intellectual property law in the Commission. The main fields of activity were the harmonization of laws in copyright (term of protection of copyright and related rights, private copying, Green Paper on Copyright in the information society) and international negotiations (TRIPs, European Economic Area, WIPO Treaty on dispute settlement, bilateral agreements).

He joined the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) in May 1995 as chief advisor to the President of the Office.

From 2000 until 2005 he has been responsible for the preparations of OHIM in view of the enlargement of the EU and the coming into force of the Regulation on Community Designs. He was nominated Director of the Designs Department in 2002.

He was nominated President of the Boards of Appeal by the Council of Ministers in December 2005 and confirmed for a second mandate in May 2010.