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An affordable, high-quality Community Patent needed by European innovators

Brussels, 27 November 2003 — The President of the European Patent Office (EPO), Ingo Kober, has voiced a strong plea for an affordable, simple and reliable Community Patent in order to create a flourishing patent culture in Europe. Mr Kober, who was invited to speak before the Industry and Legal Affairs Committees of the European Parliament, said that the EPO is strongly in favour of a system which serves the best interests of European citizens and innovators alike. “This is particularly important with regard to the Lisbon criteria to transform Europe into the world’s strongest knowledge economy. The patent system is a vital element in that process ”, he said.

“Europe will benefit enormously from a unitary granting system and patent court, but the costs to the users will also be an important factor for its success”, the EPO President said. The costs of patents in Europe are already high compared to the USA and Japan. However, according to the Office’s view, current proposals for the Community Patent fall short of hopes for major cost reductions. Especially the language regime for the translation of patent claims into 19 languages will do little to reduce patent costs for innovators.

Cost aspects are also of issue in the proposed court system that will only apply to Community Patents and does not propose a litigation solution for the more than 1.5 million national patents granted under the current European grant system. “For these patents litigation costs will remain high. Furthermore, the envisaged court system is not likely to be in place before 2010”. Mr Kober underlined the EPO’s commitment to a centralised high-quality patent grant system that should also be maintained under the Community Patent scheme. Proposals to have some of the work currently undertaken centrally by the EPO by national patent offices have lead to genuine fears of a reversal of some of the benefits acquired with the introduction 30 years ago of the current system, and of efficiency reductions.

The European patent system serves the needs of the research community, enterprises and individual innovators, as well as the public’s need to be informed of the latest technological advances. It only grants rights to those applicants who fulfil strict criteria on patentability, in return for public disclosure of details of their inventions. The system encourages scientists and technicians to innovate by assuring them that their ideas can be protected in the market place. Therefore, it helps innovators and businesses manage their economic risks through effective protection of their intellectual capital.

Under the provisions of the European Patent Convention (EPC), which constitutes the legal basis for the European Patent Organisation and its executive arm, the European Patent Office, European patents are granted by the EPO in a centralised and thorough procedure involving a state of the art search and substantive examination. The procedure also guarantees accessibility for anyone interested in a patent case and provides maximum transparency through full electronic publication of all documents and files on the EPO’s internet website. Furthermore, the provisions of the EPC hold the Office fully accountable: while all its operations are supervised by the 27 member states in the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation, each patent granted by the Office may be subject to first and second instance opposition procedures at the EPO, and may be reviewed in procedures before national courts.

In all its activities the EPO has to apply the standards laid down in the EPC. This also includes any EU legislation subsequently incorporated into the Convention, such as the Biotechnology Directive 98/44 EC and, should it become law, the proposed Directive on computer-implemented inventions. In that context the President of the EPO emphasised that - despite claims to the contrary - the Office does not grant patents for either software per se or business methods, as neither are considered patentable under the EPC.

In view of the growing importance of intellectual property rights (IPR) in the global trade scheme, the President of the EPO said that the EU could consider raising awareness and training in IPR in its forthcoming Innovation Action Plan and in discussions on the 7th Framework Programme.

Note to Journalists

• The European Patent Office is the executive arm of the European Patent Organisation, an international organisation set up by the contracting states to the European Patent Convention (EPC), which was signed on 5 October 1973 and entered into force on 3 October 1977. The Office’s task is to grant European patents for inventions in all industrial sectors for the EPC contracting states. This is done by a centralised examination procedure: on the basis of a single application filed in one of the three official languages (English, French or German) it is possible to obtain patent protection in some or all of the 27 contracting states. In 2002 the EPO received 165 100 patent applications and granted 47 400 patents. It has a staff of nearly 6 000 who are employed at its headquarters in Munich, the branch at The Hague and sub-offices in Berlin and Vienna.

  The contracting states to the EPC are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Spain, Finland, France, United Kingdom, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakia, Turkey.

• The EPO is a non-profit making organisation and any surplus is reinvested in infrastructure. It is self-financing: all its revenues come from procedural fees and from renewal fees for applications and patents.

• The European Patent Convention (EPC) lays down standard rules for the handling of patent applications under a single grant procedure. Under the EPC, patents may only be granted for inventions which are susceptible of industrial application, which are new and which involve an inventive step.

• The EPO provides maximum transparency and information on its activities. Once a European patent application has been published, the file relating to it is open to inspection and any member of the public can view communications between the EPO and the applicant. All amendments to the application are recorded in the file. Free online file inspection is possible via the EPO’s epoline ^® server, while published patent applications and granted patents can be accessed freely at the EPO’s patent information service esp@cenet via the Office’s website.