Paul A. Maier

Former President of the EUIPO Boards of Appeal; former Director of the EU Observatory on infringements of IPR (Spain)

Paul A. Maier studied international relations and law at the Strasbourg (France) University. He graduated from the Institute of Political Science and the Faculty of Law. He then went on to study and graduate at the College of Europe in Bruges (Belgium).

He joined the European Commission in 1987 and has been working exclusively on IP since 1990. In the Commission he notably worked on copyright harmonization and international relations (Uruguay  Round, WIPO, European Economic Are and bilateral agreements). In 1995 he joined the European Intellectual Property Office in Alicante (Spain). In the EUIPO he was head of the private office of the President, then director of the Design Department (creating the EU design registration system), President of the  Boards of Appeal (designation by the EU Council of Ministers) and finally Director of the European Observatory on Infringements of IPRs.

He retired in June 2023 and since then is dedicated to teaching IP (Universities of Strasbourg and Aix en Provence) and participating in international conferences.