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EPO and EU join forces to promote innovation

Munich, 19 June 2006 - The past year has seen the EPO intensify its co-operation with the European institutions as a means of promoting the European Union's innovation policy.

"European companies still use the patent system less than their competitors in the USA and Japan. Not only that, usage patterns differ greatly among the European states. However, the systematic use of patents to protect technical innovations is important if the EU's Lisbon Strategy is to be a success" says EPO President, Professor Alain Pompidou. "One aim of an effective innovation policy should therefore be to develop patent use among European companies, especially small and medium-sized firms. Here too the EPO is playing a key role in Europe."

This situation prompted the EPO to push harder in 2005 for the implementation of the London Agreement and the adoption of the European Patent Litigation Agreement (EPLA): "The London Agreement would practically halve the cost of translating European patents and save European firms up to EUR 500 million per year. The EPLA, on the other hand, provides for the establishment of a European Patent Court that would give unified rulings in infringement and revocation cases generated by the 1.5 million or so European patents currently in force. Both initiatives would make patent protection more accessible, particularly for small companies, and promote greater use of patents in Europe", according to President Pompidou.